GOD has been pleased to reveal Himself in the Person of a Man, and in the Writings of a Book. The Gospel by St. John is occupied with the manifestation of God in the Person of Christ, and the coming of the Holy Ghost: the Word and Spirit declaring God as a Father. “He was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory." “In the beginning was the Word and Word, was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were created by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made... And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory (glory as of the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth." This gives His incarnate character; and our connection with it is stated “out of His fullness have all we received, and grace for grace." The Word was “in the beginning; "—however far back this may go: this declares His Eternity; He was with God and was God. That He was " with God," declares his Personality; that He " was God," tells forth his Godhead. That he is called " the Word," because He is the Word in his being, and the manner of it, the expression of God's mind, too. He is the essential mind of God, and He is the expression of it. Christ is the Wisdom of God, and the expression of it. The Word was God... the Word became flesh." In Him was Life, and the life was the Light of men. Light is the purest of all things, and it reveals what all things are." " The Word became flesh; " and then you get the aspect he wore: " We beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten with the Father"—all that He was as that to the Father was there; His personal glory became visible in flesh. His attitude " full of grace and truth." " Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ: " in His person. They came: a new arrival in our world: they never were there before. “No man hath seen God at any time. The only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father. He hath declared him." The Son reveals the Father, as He knows Him in the divine bosom, and in His delight and love to Him. " He that hath seen me hath seen the Father." He declares Him, and we learn the revelation in Him by the Holy Ghost. In St. John this is the theme: " The only begotten who is in the bosom of the Father" declaring Him; and when a disciple has a sense of who He is as God's only begotten Son He prostrates Himself before him saying, "My Lord and my God" (John 20).
" THAT (what we have just been considering as to the incarnation of the Word and the declaration of of the Father by Him) " that which was from the beginning (of Christianity), which we have heard which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, the Word of Life (for the Life was manifested, and we have seen, it, and bear witness and show unto you that eternal life which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us); that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with 118, and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ; and these things write we unto you that your joy may be full." This, then, is the written Word. The Apostle John says in His gospel, " We beheld His glory; " now he gives his written testimony to the same glorious One, but beginning with his incarnation and manifestation in flesh: " that." Here He is called " the Word of Life," and " the Life was manifested, and we have, seen it," the Word became visible in becoming flesh. John's Gospel gives the manifestation of the Life, in the Person of the Incarnate Word. His Epistle gives the communication and possession of the life by believers; and tests of having life. The word of revelation is used to testify of Christ, and by it we are begotten again, and it liveth and endureth forever. There is a personal Word and a written word. God is the source of revelation. It came not by the will of man, but holy men of old spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Paul tells us " every writing " (he does not say writer) is theopneust; God-breathed, God-inspired. The writer is fallible, and may mistake in other things, but not the " writing " which God gives through his mind and pen.
It is inspired and infallible, and may be fully trusted. God, by inspiration, gives revelation. The things of God the Spirit reveals, and also communicates in words the Spirit teaches, communicating spiritual things by spiritual means.
Then there is the word as preached; and the Spirit's action in connection with it, in the preacher, and in the hearer. This gives the word its effect in the world and in the Church. In the first place it must be received by the Spirit by the preacher, in connection with his faith in Christ crucified, risen, and glorified. " 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 (from his inmost seat of emotions,) shall flow rivers of living water. But this he spake of the Spirit which they that believe on should receive, for the Holy Ghost was not yet, because Jesus was not yet glorified (John 7)." In John 3 the Spirit and the water give life, in John 4 the well of water springs up and, there is communion; in chap. vii. the well flows out, and there are " rivers of living waters," in testimony to others in ministry, but what flows out is the result of drinking of Christ. His “mind " is given to the soul in the Spirit, and there is a spiritual solution (if one may so say) of what the word contains concerning Him, and the man who gives it out first enjoys it himself. Thus it was at Pentecost, when three words from Scripture were quoted and remarks made on them as to Christ in life, death, resurrection and glory. The Spirit made it come to their souls with power, and the result was 3,000 saved. In this instance, and in others recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, the Holy Ghost fell on whole communities, and masses of souls were divinely quickened and consciously saved; being set free and sealed by the Spirit.
And God is still, in these last days, causing His Spirit to fall upon whole assemblies who hear the Word, though it has now become a very rare thing. Yet, during the past years of this century, men have witnessed this, again and again. They knew the very moment when He came upon the congregation in overwhelming power. The audience seemed laid hold of by some great, unseen hand, and the Word flowed forth like rivers upon them, and in one moment hundreds of saints were touched by the Spirit through the Word, and hundreds of sinners were convinced of their sins and seeking salvation. The result was in every such instance that a decided work of grace followed, the fruits of which remained.
It is well to look to the Lord for the conversion of individual souls through the quiet action of the Word and Spirit; but there are times when God sees that it is necessary for the glory of His Son that a multitude of souls should have the Spirit falling upon them at once, so that they should be moved simultaneously by His divine grace and power, " as the trees of the-wood are move d by the wind." He who works constantly in nature for the fructifying of the earth by the silent dew and the small rain, uses also the lightning's flash, the thunder's peal, and the sudden bursting of the drenching thundercloud. It is His witness in the heavens that " the God of glory thundereth." And so is it in His ways in grace, for the glory of His risen Son, whom He hath set at His right hand in the heavens, and crowned with glory and honor. The quiet conversion of one after another in the ordinary ministration of the Word, is His common method, but Pentecost, and Cornelius' house witness to us that He also falls on communities in a moment, and brings swift conviction, repentance, and salvation to thousands as easily as to an individual. When God works by His Word and Spirit for the glory of His Son, nothing can withstand His grace and saving power. Let us live, and move, pray and preach, believe and hope in the fullest confidence of this, and walls of modern Jerichos will fall flat before the Spirit of God, and the 'giants of Canaan shall be as grasshoppers.