the
by Eugene L. Garner
INTRODUCTION
"And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you
another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even
the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because
it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for
he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.... And, being
assembled together with them, commanded them that they should
not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the
Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me," (John
14:16-17; Acts 1:4).
To show that the Spirit's work during this age is
through a continuous, abiding "indwelling," in
contrast to His sporadic and temporary manifestations to men
in other ages, is the basic purpose of this booklet. The law
was Israel's "school-master" -- pointing her to the
coming Messiah. The indwelling Holy Spirit guides God's
covenant people today. He leads them in paths of
righteousness, enlightens the eyes of their understanding and
guides them into all truth.
Surely it is not accidental that the Spirit is called
"that Holy Spirit of Promise," Eph 1:13. This is with
reference to certain prophecies of Joel, Zechariah, Isaiah,
Ezekial and others of the Old Testament prophets. The
writings of Justin include many references to the "prophetic
Spirit" and the "Holy Spirit of Prophecy" -- evidently
referring to this very thing.
The Spirit's ministry through the church can best be
understood by a careful study of what Jesus called the
"Promise of the Father." To whom was this promise
made? What blessings were provided by it? When was it to be
fulfilled? Once these questions are answered by a general
analogy of the Scriptures, we should be in a better position
to appreciate the workings of Him Whom the world cannot
receive "because it seeth him not, neither knoweth
him." With such an appreciation of the Spirits work, we
will be able to learn something of possessing and walking in
the Spirit.
TO WHOM WAS THE PROMISE
OF THE FATHER MADE?
Let me submit that the "Promise of the Father"
is a covenant blessing which can be experienced only by a
covenant people. That system of theology which ignores,
spiritualizes or repudiates the covenants of the Old
Testament misses a vital link in the chain of God's
progressively-revealed Kingdom purpose.
Long ago God announced to Abraham his intention to make
of him a great nation. He promised him a "seed" and an
"inheritance." This is called the ABRAHAMIC COVENANT. The
blessings of this covenant pertained ONLY to his seed
(covenant blessings for a covenant people). This did not
include all his fleshly descendants, but only those who were
of the "faith of Abraham." Circumcision was an
absolute necessity before men could enjoy the blessing of
this covenant, (Gen 17:9-14). Even that was useless if they
were uncircumcised in heart, ears and lips. "For he is not
a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision,
which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one
inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the
spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men,
but of God," Rom 2:28-29. Each of the covenants was made
with, and it's blessings limited to, a special, peculiar and
holy people.
The "indwelling Spirit" may properly be called a
"new covenant blessing." As such, certain limitations
are placed upon it. Others may teach that every person who
has once trusted Jesus is indwelt by the Spirit, but it is
questionable whether such a claim can be clearly
substantiated by the Scriptures.
A. IT IS LIMITED TO THE HOUSE OF GOD
A close examination of John 13 through 17 will identify
the people to whom the promise of the Father pertains. TO
WHOM WAS THE LORD'S SUPPER DELIVERED AS AN ORDINANCE? It was
to precisely the same people that He spoke saying,
"Behold, I send the promise of my father upon you: but
tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with
power form on high," Luke 24:49. Being assembled with His
apostles, and having taught them concerning His kingdom for
40 days after His resurrection, Jesus commanded them that
they should "not depart from Jerusalem but wait for the
promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of
me," Acts 1:4.
Surely we will be on safe ground to say that the
promise of the Father was made to the "house of God."
The promise of the indwelling Spirit in Jeremiah 31 is to the
"house of Israel and the house of Judah." This is
specified in Paul's quotation of the passage in Hebrews 8:10.
Paul speaks of the church at Ephesus as being a "holy
temple" and "an habitation of God through the
Spirit." What is the house of God today? Does not Paul
define it as being "the church of the living God, the
pillar and the ground of the truth?
Someone may ask, "HOW MANY HOUSES DOES GOD HAVE?" He
evidently has ONE. Israel was that house in the Old
Testament. According to Hebrews 3, Moses was a "servant" in
God's house. Jesus is "counted worthy of more glory than
Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more
honour than the house...whose house are we, if we hold fast
the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the
end." Mose's had no house of his own, but he was faithful
in God's house (Num 12:7). Thus, it is seen that the church
of the Lord Jesus occupies the same position of RELATIONSHIP
TO GOD as was held by national Israel before the present
age...a position of "covenant fellowship with God."
Because of Israel's unbelief, God has temporarily cast
her aside. The natural branches have been cut off of the
olive tree. Blindness in part is happened to Israel, until
the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. Does this mean that
God has no "true Israel," "to whom pertaineth the
adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of
the law, and the service of God and the promises?"
Certainly NOT, for in God's reckoning "They are not all
Israel, which are of Israel: Neither, because they are the
seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, in Isaac shall
thy seed be called. That is, They which are the children of
the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the
children of the promise are counted for the seed," Rom
9:6-8.
When Jesus began His public ministry on earth, He sent
His apostles to the "lost sheep of the house of
Israel." Though the Israelites as a whole rejected their
King, there was a faithful "remnant" which did receive Him as
their Messiah. These faithful few could claim the promises
that had been made to the HOUSE, and with them God
established the New Covenant---at least in an inchoate form.
The rest of the nation was "desolate." This faithful remnant
continued as the "house of God." The house of God, in
this age, is made up NOT ONLY OF JEWS, but also of Gentiles
who, by faith, have been grafted into the true stock of
Israel.
This engrafting of Gentiles, into the house of God, was
a "mystery" hidden from "ages" and "generations" but NOW
REVEALED through His apostles and prophets (Eph 3). In the
body of Christ (the church) Jew and Gentile become "one
new man" (Eph 2:15). This "new man" is not a term
which describes every individual who has once trusted in
Jesus as Saviour. The "new man" is, rather, CHRIST
HIMSELF who is "formed in" His people. In His body,
the church, we are members of His flesh and of His bone...the
true seed of Abraham.
IGNATIUS, in his epistle to the Ephesians, promised to
write a second letter "with respect to the NEW MAN, Jesus
Christ, in His faith and in His love, in His suffering and in
His resurrection."
It is only through identification with Christ in
body-relationship that Gentiles become "fellow-body-members"
with the saints and of the household of God. No person can
experience covenant blessings apart from such an intimate
relationship to Jesus, the Christ, who is the seed of Abraham
and "heir of the promise." By the death of the "Seed"
provision is made so "that the blessings of Abraham might
come on the Gentiles through (identification with)
Jesus Christ, that we might receive the PROMISE OF THE
SPIRIT through faith."
B. IT IS FOR A PEOPLE CHARACTERIZED BY LOVING OBEDIENCE
The promise of the Father is for those who (having the
Lord's commandments) love and keep them. Is not this what
Jesus said in John 14? "He that hath my commandments, and
KEEPETH THEM, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me
shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will
manifest myself to him... If a man love me, he will KEEP MY
WORDS: and my Father will love him, and WE WILL COME UNTO
HIM, AND MAKE OUR ABODE WITH HIM," John 14:21, 23. This
harmonizes well with the words of Peter in Acts 5:29-32:
"We ought to obey God rather than men. The God of our
fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree.
Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a
Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of
sins. And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is
also the HOLY GHOST, whom God hath given to them that OBEY
HIM."
Let us not forget the threats of our Lord against the
Ephesus church in this connection. That church had many
commendable qualities---patience, labors for the Lord's sake,
trial-bearing, sound doctrine, not characterized by fainting
and strict in its discipline. YET this was the church whose
candlestick He threatened to remove. They had "left their
first love" for Christ which once manifest itself in
"first-works"---the practicing of His presence in their
lives.
Who can doubt that the "candlestick" signifies the
presence of the indwelling Spirit (of Christ living and
walking in the midst of His people) without whom they can do
nothing? And except the lives of men are characterized by
this work-producing, commandment-keeping LOVE they cannot
(though saved) claim to be "in Christ" ---members of
His body, possessing, and being possessed by, His Spirit.
They are, in fact, "in" and "of" the world, and CANNOT
receive the Spirit.
WHAT DOES THIS PROMISE OF THE FATHER INVOLVE?
Chapters 14 through 17 of John's Gospel revolve around
the "promise of the Father," and its effect in the
lives of His people. Perhaps the most concise and yet
far-reaching statement of all is that one which has been
chosen as a text: "And I will pray the Father, and he
shall give you another comforter, that he MAY ABIDE WITH YOU
FOR EVER: Even the SPIRIT OF TRUTH: whom the world cannot
receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but
ye know him, for he dwelleth WITH YOU, and SHALL BE IN YOU. I
will not leave you comfortless; I WILL COME TO YOU," John
14:16-17.
Paul speaks of this same blessedness in Colossians
1:26-27. He calls it a "mystery which hath been hid from
ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his
saints; To whom God would make known what is the riches of
the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is CHRIST
IN YOU, the hope of glory." Every reference to this
"indwelling"will be found connected with Christ being "in"
His people and of their being "filled with all the fulness
of God."
When Judas, not Iscariot, asked the Master, "How is
it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the
world?" Jesus answered by saying, "If a man love me,
he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we
will come unto him, and make our abode with him," John
14:22-23.
In John's Gospel Jesus told His disciples of at least
three blessings that were to be theirs through the indwelling
Spirit "at that day." The first is found in John
14:20: "At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father,
and ye in me, and I in you." Who can fail to see that
Jesus is comparing the relationship existing between Himself
and His Father to that which shall exist between Himself and
His people? The coming of the Spirit will give KNOWLEDGE of
that relationship...intimate, blessed and glorious.
It was through his consciousness of the indwelling
spirit that Paul could say, "I am crucified with Christ:
nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and
the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of
the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me,"
Gal 2:20. And again, "For to me, to live is Christ,"
Phil 1:21. His admonition to the Philippian saints must not
be separated from his teachings concerning the indwelling
Spirit. "So, my dearly loved friends, as you have always
been obedient, so now with reverence and awe keep on working
clear down to the finishing point of your salvation, not only
as though I were with you but much more because I am away;
for it is God HIMSELF WHO IS AT WORK IN YOU to help you
desire it as well as do it," Phil 2:12-15, (Williams).
Other passages might be cited to show what is meant by the
"indwelling spirit," but these should be sufficient.
A. IT INVOLVES AN ANOINTING..TO TEACH AND EMPOWER.
This promise of the father is an "anointing" for
Kingship and Priesthood. It is with a view to priestly
service... not the offering up of blood sacrifices, but
"the sacrifices of praise to God continually, that is, the
fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name," Heb 13:15.
This anointing teaches and empowers. In Acts 1:4 Jesus told
His assembled saints to "wait for the promise of the
Father." In verse 8, He said, "But ye shall receive
power, after that Holy Ghost is come upon you." John
wrote to his "little children" saying, "Ye have an
unction (anointing) from the Holy One, and ye KNOW ALL
THINGS... The anointing which ye have received of him abideth
in you, and ye need not that any man teach you," John
2:20-27.
Surely this indwelling Spirit is a "new
covenant" blessing. In Jeremiah 31:33 it is written:
"After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in
their inward part, and write it in their hearts; and will be
their God, and a shall be my people. And they shall TEACH NO
MORE every man is neighbor, and every man his brother saying,
Know the Lord; for they shall all know me, from the least of
them unto the greatest of them..." This is the blessing
of the "new covenant" that he promised to make with
the "house of Israel and with the house of Judah." A
further promise is made in Jeremiah 32:39-40: "And I will
give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me for
ever, for the good of them, and of their children after them:
And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I
will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put
my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from
me." THE PROCESSING and RETAINING of the Spirit in this
age is on a CONDITIONAL and PROBATIONARY BASIS, but when
Jesus comes again to establish His kingdom, the blessings of
this promise will belong IRREVOCABLY to His Kingdom-people.
Concerning this teaching ministry of the Spirit, Jesus
quoted from the prophets saying, "It is written in the
prophets, and they shall be all taught of God, every man
therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father,
cometh unto me," John 6:45. In John 14:26 He said again,
"The Comforter, which is a Holy Ghost, whom the Father
will send in my name, he shall TEACH YOU ALL THINGS, and
bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said
unto you." In chapter 16:12-15 He testified further,
"I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot
bear them now. Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, is come,
HE WILL GUIDE YOU INTO ALL TRUTH: for he shall not speak of
himself; but whatsoever he shall year, that shall he speak;
and he will show you things to come."
The disciples of Jesus had asked many questions
concerning what this promise of the Father would be like. He
tells them that when they experience the REALITY of the
Spirits indwelling presence they will have no such
questioning... There will be no doubts. "In that day ye
shall ask me nothing (ye shall ask me know question),"
16:23. I would not deny anyone the privilege of believing
that this blessing belongs to every man who has once trusted
Jesus. However, I would inquire HOW IT IS that no one who has
this "anointing" and "knoweth all things" can
end up "forgetting that he hath been purged from his old
sin?" Purged, anointed, knowing all things---yet
unconscious of the PURGING? Such a thought is incredible!
B. IT IS DESIGNED TO PROMOTE UNITY IN THE BODY
The indwelling Spirit came to promote UNITY. Hear the
words of Jesus' prayer in John 17:18-23: "As thou hast
sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into
the world." WHOM DID HE SEND? "And for their sakes I
sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through
the truth. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also
which shall believe on me through their word; That they all
may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that
they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that
thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have
given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in
them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one;
and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast
loved them, as thou hast loved me." This prayer could not
be fulfilled without the coming of the Spirit to
"indwell" them that they might have the "mind of
Christ." The unity which is promoted by the indwelling
Spirit will bring us unto the "knowledge of the Son of
God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of
the fulness of Christ" ... fully conformed into His
image.
C. IT GIVES LIBERTY TO THE SONS OF GOD
Another blessing provided by the indwelling Spirit is
the glorious liberty of sonship. It is through identification
with "the Son" that men are made FREE. This liberty is
far-reaching. It is from bondage, death and the grave. The
apostle Paul taught that "Where the Spirit of the Lord is,
there is liberty," 2 Cor 3:17. Those who are the seed of
Abraham (through the body of Christ) are "not children of the
bondwomen (Jerusalem which now is), but of free. Hence, the
admonition: "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith
Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the
yoke of bondage," Gal 5:1.
One can enter into this liberty ONLY through
identification with the Christ in His death. Only those who
have died with Him are "freed" from sin. Paul reminded
the Roman saints that they had been made "dead to the law
through the body of Christ," Rom 7:4. They were,
therefore, free from the bondage to it. This liberty should
not be used as a means of pampering the flesh. It WILL enable
us to be loosed from bondage if we reckon ourselves to be
what God declares us to be "in Christ."
There is a great need among the people of God in these
are days to appropriate unto ourselves, by faith, the
blessedness of this liberty which the Spirit gives. It will
enable us to evaluate properly the traditions of our Baptist
fathers and to discard all that which has no firm foundation
in the holy Scriptures. He calls upon us to break loose from
serfdom to mere denominational systems and the farce of
flesh-righteousness. Having begun in the Spirit, it is folly
to reject His leadership and seek perfection through the
schemes of the flesh. No form of wickedness will more quickly
or finally "grieve the Spirit," silence His voice
within, yea, even drive him away from dwelling within the
temple of our bodies.
That this was the teaching of the early church is
evidenced in the writings of the PASTOR OF HERMAS, who was
highly regarded in his day, and his writings were thought by
many to be canonical. "The tender Spirit, not being
accustomed to dwell with the wicked spirit, nor with
hardness, withdraws from such a man, and seeks to dwell with
meekness and peacefulness. Then, when he withdraws from the
man in WHOM HE DWELT, the man is emptied of the righteous
Spirit; and being henceforward filled with evil spirits, he
is in a state of anarchy in every action, being dragged
hither and thither by the evil spirits, and there is complete
darkness in his mind as to everything good," 15th Com, Ch 2.
Again, having shown how doubt and anger grieve the Spirit, he
issued this challenge: "Wherefore remove grief from you, and
crush not the Holy Spirit which DWELLS IN YOU, less he
entreat God against you, and he withdraw from you," Com 10:
Ch 2.
D. IT GIVES ACCESS TO THE FATHER "IN JESUS NAME. "
The context shows that Jesus had just revealed to His
disciples many things concerning the promise of the Father
and His work in them. In this connection He said:
"Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye
shall receive, that your joy may be full...AT THAT DAY ye
shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will
pray the Father for you: For the Father himself loveth you,
because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out
from God." John 16: 24; 26-27.
This authority to approach the Father "in Jesus'
name" is not given promiscuously. It was NOT given to ALL
THE SAVED, but ONLY to those who receive the "indwelling
Spirit." The authority of "access" was givin by
Jesus to His church. He is said to be a High Priest ONLY over
the "house of God." Is it not a bit inconsistent to
content that all "once-believers" have Jesus as a High
Priests and can approach the Father "in His name" and
scream in protest of the heretical protestant teaching of a
universal church composed of all the saved? To apply covenant
blessings to all the saved is to declare that all the saved
are a covenant people. If that be true then ALL THE SAVED
would be in the body of Christ. But such a teaching would
conflict with the Scriptures from beginning to end.
WHEN WAS THE PROMISE OF THE FATHER FULFILLED?
In concerning the fulfillment of this "promise of
the Father" one must deal with several passages from the
prophets. Isaiah spoke of the desolation of the land of
Israel "Until the spirit be poured upon us from on
high," Isaiah 32:15. Joel also spoke of this promise:
"And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out
my spirit on all flesh; and your sons and your daughters
shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young
men shall see visions: And also upon the servants and upon
the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit. And I
will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and
fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into
darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the
terrible day of the LORD come. And it shall come to pass,
that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be
delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be
deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom
the LORD shall call." Joel 2:28-32. Concerning this
outpouring of the Spirit, the Lord spoke through Zechariah
saying, " And I will pour upon the house of David,
and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace
and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they
have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth
for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one
that is in bitterness for his firstborn." Zechariah
12:10.
Before the Spirit would come, in His
"indwelling" capacity, it was necessary for Jesus both
to go away and be glorified. To His little flock he said:
"Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for
you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will
not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto
you." John 16:7. It is recorded by John that earlier in
the Ministry of Jesus he stood before the Jews at their Feast
of Tabernacles and witnessed concerning the Spirit. "In
the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and
cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and
drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said,
out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this
spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should
receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that
Jesus was not yet glorified.)" John 7:37-39. Just before
His ascension to the Father, Jesus said to His disciples,
"And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you:
but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued
with power from on high." Luke 24:49.
On the day of Pentecost (ten days after the Lords
ascension) the Spirit came "as a rushing mighty wind, and
filled all the house" where His disciples were assembled.
The church was then ONCE AND FOR ALL TIME baptized in the
Holy Spirit. They were enabled to astound the multitude of
Jews, assembled from all nations, by on that occasion, quoted
the prophesy of Joel and declared that Jesus, who had been
crucified was now "raised" and "exalted" by the
Fathers right hand. He had "received of the Father the
promise of the Holy Ghost" which He "shed forth"
on that occasion. IRENAEUS spoke of the Spirits descending on
the day of Pentecost "having power to admit all nations to
the entrance of life, and to the opening of the new covenant;
from whence also, with one accord in all languages they
uttered praise to God, the Spirit bringing distant tribes to
unity, and offering to the Father the first fruits of all
nations," Bk 2 Ch 17.
The coming of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost seems
only an inchoate fulfillment of the "promise of the
Father." The prophecies of Joel, Isaiah and Zechariah
were only partly fulfilled on that occasion. In connection
with the Promise of the Father Jesus had said: "Verily,
verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works
that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these
shall he do; because I go unto my Father," John 14:12.
That such works are not evident among His people today is
known by all. But they will be wrought by those who, in the
resurrection become actual partakers of the divine nature and
glory.
According to Paul, we now have only an "earnest of
the Spirit," Eph 1:14. But in the day of redemption,
resurrection and regeneration, "unto the praise of His
glory," we shall receive of the Spirit "without
measure." It is implied that what we now realize through
the Spirit is only a KIND OF FIRST FRUITS or pledge of what
this same Spirit will perform in the day of the Lord Jesus.
"In that day both body and soul will experience this
remarkable baptism of the Spirit: the body in the Spirits
resurrecting, quickening, glorifying power... and the soul in
the Spirits conferring wisdom, knowledge, utterance,
prophecy, miraculous gifts, etc." (Peters). Concerning this,
Irenaeus has said, "But we do now receive a certain portion
of His Spirit, tending towards perfection, and preparing us
for incorruption, being little by little accustomed to
receive and bear God; which also the apostle terms "an
earnest," that is, a part of the honor which has been
promised us by God," (Bk 5, Ch 18).
A close examination of those old testament contexts
which deal with the promise of the "indwelling Spirit"
will show that they are invariably connected with the
restoration of the Theocracy and the ensuing millennial era.
Take, for example, Ezekiel 37:26-28: "A new heart also
will I give you, and a new spirit will I PUT WITHIN YOU: and
I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I
will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit
WITHIN YOU, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye
shall keep my judgments, and do them. And ye shall DWELL IN
THE LAND THAT I GAVE TO YOUR FATHERS; and ye shall be my
people, and I will be your God." In chapter 37:12-14 the
message is the same: "Therefore prophesy and say unto
them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O my people, I will
open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your
graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. And ye shall
know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O my
people, and brought you up out of your graves, And shall PUT
MY SPIRIT IN YOU, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in
your own land: then shall ye know that I the LORD have spoken
it, and performed it, saith the LORD." The testimony of
Isaiah is in perfect harmony with this. "So shall they
fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from
the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a
flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard
against him. And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto
them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the LORD.
As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the LORD; My
spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in
thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the
mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed,
saith the LORD, from henceforth and for ever." Many other
passages deal with the same thought, but these should be
sufficient.
Thus, it is evident that the complete and final
fulfillment of the "promise of the Father" will be
realized ONLY in the coming Kingdom of our Lord Jesus, the
Christ. It is a cause for rejoicing "That the Gentiles
should be fellowheirs, and of the same body and partakers of
His promise in Christ by the Gospel," Eph 3:6. Yet, Paul
warned "That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who
through faith and patience inherit the promises." Heb 6:12.
And again, "For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have
done the will of God, ye might receive the promise." Heb
10:36.
HOW MAY THE BLESSING
OF THIS PROMISE BE EXPERIENCED?
Justice will not hath have been done this great subject
without some suggestion as to how one may possess an retain
the indwelling Holy Spirit. To possess the Spirit one must
first enter into the way of faith. Entrance into life is
through faith, through believing in God. One wonders if far
too many "sincere" Christians are not inadvertently selling
this faith short. To teach that the full blessing of Gods
salvation are contingent ONLY upon one's trusting in Jesus at
one-point-in-time is a grievous error.
In its scriptural usage, faith is something more than a
one step proposition. It is a way of life -- involving a
persistent walk in submission to Him who is its object. And
it is always characterized by outward obedience to the
revealed will of God. Paul's challenge is to walk in the
"steps" of Abraham's faith.
The "indwelling Holy Spirit," something quite different
from "being saved;" a New Covenant blessing, first offered to
men on Pentecost; is the possession ONLY of those "in
Christ." But here there is great danger of
misunderstanding, for this "relationship"is too often viewed
emotionally instead of intellectually. Too few make any
objective effort to understand the Biblical usage of such
expressions. "In Christ" bespeaks a positional
relationship (not literal, but based on God's reckoning us
there through faith) wherein one is counted a member "of
His body, of His flesh and of His bones."
While the apostle Paul whole heartedly espoused the
doctrine of security for believing ones, he showed no
enthusiasm for the inevitability of what some today call "the
perseverance of saints." The expression of his own desire is
recorded in Philippians 3:8-9: "Yea doubtless, and I count
all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of
Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of
all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win
Christ, And be found in him, not having mine own
righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through
the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by
faith."
To "abide in Christ" is to walk "in the
Spirit" which involves a crucifixion. And it appears from
the Scriptures that no one can crucify the flesh apart from
an identification with Christ "in His death and in His
resurrection." ONLY such as are identified with Him through
the obedience of faith (which inevitably expresses its
subjection to His authority in baptism) CAN CRUCIFY THE
FLESH, (See Rom 6:1-13; Acts 2:30; 5:29-32).
Strictly speaking, one who is "in Christ" is
also "in the Spirit" -- deliberately treading the
highway of holiness. To such a walk all of God's people are
called -- the deeds of the flesh being mortified, not by a
self-pruning which is self-righteousness, but by an absolute
surrender of our lives to the Divine Husbandman.
A proper attitude for our hearts is expressed in the
imploring words of a familiar an beautiful hymn:
Come, Holy Spirit, heav'nly Dove,
With all thy quick'ning powers;
Kindle a flame of sacred love
In these cold hearts of ours.
See how the trifle below,
Fond of these earthly toys:
Our soul, how heavily they go,
To reach eternal joys.
In vain we tune our formal songs,
In vain we strive to rise:
Hosannas languish on our tongues,
And our devotion dies.
Come, Holy Spirit, heav'nly dove,
With all thy quick'ning powers;
Come, shed abroad a Saviour's love,
And that shall kindle ours.
May this be our desire as, in full submission to Christ's
authority and shameless identification with His suffering, we
follow the steps of faithful Abraham -- seeking the city that
our faithful Lord has gone to prepare.
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