The Holy Ghost having taken up His abode in the believer, he is thus united to Christ, who is at the right hand of God. And what a wonderful thing for every child of God on earth now to know, that he is actually united to Christ in heaven, as a divinely-wrought fact! Present union with Christ! One spirit with the Lord, for we are told that “he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.” How amazing the grace of God, who beheld us in our vile and loathsome state as sinners of the Gentiles, and cleansed us, quickened us, and united us by His Holy Spirit to the Lord Jesus Christ! We have this marvelous union, not by faith, as is sometimes stated, though we are believers; nor even in life, though Christ is our life; but by the coming of the Holy Ghost into our hearts, in consequence of our being washed from our sins in the blood of Jesus. We surely do well to ponder carefully in God’s presence this amazing truth; so true is it, that Jesus in the glory speaks of us as part of Himself—“Me”—and the Holy Ghost says that “we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.” It is the consciousness of the reality of this union that necessarily attracts us to the Lord, keeps us clinging to Him, to find our all in Him, and therefore detaches us from a thousand things which many esteem to be good, because they are unsuited to Him with whom we are forever joined by “one Spirit.”
Has the christian reader received this divine truth, that “by one Spirit we are all baptized into one body?”—that you yourself are now so one with Christ, that if you are persecuted, lie could say to your persecutor, “Why persecutest thou me?” Have you, beloved reader, the consciousness in your own soul that because you have been washed from your sins in the blood of Jesus, the Holy Spirit has taken up His abode in your heart forever, and united you to Christ in heaven? It may be possible that you have never heard of this great truth before, or, even if you have known it, you may have little consciousness of its reality, because of your fleshly and worldly walk so grieving the Spirit; still, it is even then blessed to come before God in self-examination, self-judgment, and, it may be, self-loathing, and thus have soul-restoration; and, believing God’s testimony, and walking in His presence, have the precious comfort, not only that “as Christ is, so are we in this world” (a most blessed truth), but that you are now on earth forever united to the Lord in heaven by His Spirit which He hath given us. That every christian reader of these pages may have the certainty and unspeakable enjoyment of being one with the Lord Jesus, is our heart’s desire and earnest prayer to the Father of mercies and God of all comfort! (1 Cor. 12:1313For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. (1 Corinthians 12:13); Acts 9:44And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? (Acts 9:4).)
It is because we have the Spirit that we “know the things that are freely given to us of God” that we have to do with an ascended, glorified Savior, consciously stand in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and intelligently worship and give thanks. “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” In this way the believer knows that he is not now in his sins, not in the flesh, not of the world, not under law, but justified from all things, has eternal life, is a child of God, has received the Holy Ghost, and is a member of the body of Christ, thus able to serve acceptably, and worship the Father in spirit and in truth. Thus the gift of the Holy Ghost to the believer is connected with knowledge, liberty, communion, enjoyment, worship, and power. The difference is strikingly seen in comparing the state of believers in the first chapter of the Acts with their state in the second and fourth chapters.
Among other operations of the Holy Ghost, we may notice that He bears witness to the Son of God—“He shall testify of me.” (John 15:2626But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: (John 15:26).) Thus the Holy Spirit brings before our souls the personal glory and perfections of the Son, His moral excellencies, His finished work on the cross, the various offices which He now sustains, and the ranges of glory yet to be revealed to His eternal praise and honor. He may direct our thoughts back to consider His eternal Sonship, and lead us to contemplate Him by whom the worlds were made. He may recall to our memories His God-glorifying work of redemption in the past, or direct the eye of our heart to Jesus at the right hand of God, crowned with glory and honor, where we see Him for the present. Or, He may lead us to contemplate Him in the future, when He will come forth as the rightful Heir of all things to establish His kingdom in righteousness, wearing His many crowns. The Holy Spirit may testify of Him as the One in heaven, to whom angels, authorities, and powers are made subject; He may at one time lead our thoughts back to His perfections in this world as the rejected One, and then to Him as the reigning One, to whom every knee must bow. He may minister to us the marvelous relationship He holds as the Head of His body the church, the offices He sustains as our great High Priest, the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls, and our Advocate with the Father, and give us also to contemplate the time of blessing yet to come, when He shall be welcomed and honored on earth as King of Israel and Governor among the nations. At one time the Holy Ghost may give us to delight in Him as our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption; and at another to look forward to our reigning with Him, and to His executing the most solemn judgments on the living and on the dead. So that, whether the Holy Ghost occupy us with the past, present, or future, things heavenly or earthly, He is the Testifier of the Son, who is the central object of all God’s counsels, grace, and glory! We may be certain, therefore, that no ministry can be characterized as of the Holy Ghost, if the Lord Jesus Christ be not the pre-eminent subject and object of its testimony. How blessed, then, it is to know this, and to experience in our souls this grand effect of the Spirit dwelling in us, that He testifies to us of the Son! In no other way can we account for that untold blessedness which we enjoy when our minds and hearts are taken up with Him, and when His perfectness, accomplished work, His offices and His fullness, are brought home to our hearts!
The Holy Ghost is also the Glorifier of the Son, as He said, “He shall glorify me.” (John 16:1414He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you. (John 16:14).) He presents Him as worthy of all praise. His excellencies make everything else seem poor. His worthiness will by-and-by call forth the praises of every creature in heaven, in earth, and under the earth. But even now, in this sin-blighted world, the Holy Ghost so reveals Him, that hearts are attuned to sing His praise. To many now on earth His name is above every name, and to their hearts He has the pre-eminence in all things, because the Holy Spirit has revealed to them something of His surpassing excellencies and worth. Yes, He is the Glorifier of the Son of God, the Spirit of truth, who guides into all the truth. He tells us of Him as God’s only-begotten Son, as the Creator of the world, that Eternal Life which was with the Father, the Object of the worship of all the angels, the Light of men, the Savior of all that believe in His name, the One to whom all judgment is committed, at whose name every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess. Thus is He ever to be adored and praised, for He is worthy.
The Holy Ghost does not speak from Himself, hut “whatsoever he shall hear that shall he speak.... He shall glorify me; for he shall receive of mine, and shall show unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine; therefore said I, that he shall take of mine and shall show unto you.” It is because all that the Father hath the Son hath also, that the Holy Ghost reveals the most precious things of the Father and of the Son to us.
The Holy Ghost also reveals the truth to us as to coming events—“He will show you things to come.” To shut out, therefore, from our minds the testimony of scripture as to prophetic events, would be to resist this blessed ministry of the Holy Spirit. And observe, that it is the Spirit who shows us the future. No power of the natural intellect, apart from divine teaching, is sufficient for this. One thing is certain—that the same Spirit which is given to us, and cries, Abba, Father, also says, Come, Lord Jesus. “The Spirit and the bride say, Come.” It is, then, a most serious matter when souls, even if they do not oppose the doctrine of the Lord’s coming as the believer’s hope, yet, if they do not accept it as the divinely-given hope, they are clearly shown to be not in the mind of the Holy Ghost. (Rev. 22:1717And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. (Revelation 22:17).)
We read, too, of “joy in the Holy Ghost;” for if He be here to testify of the Son, to glorify Him, and to show us things to come, He must surely be thus keeping our hearts near the never-failing springs of divine grace. We know that the Father Himself loves us—yea, that He loves us as He has loved His Son. Thus, being objects of divine favor, brought to Him in Christ, and through His precious blood, accepted in the Beloved, and His co-heirs, and all kept fresh in our hearts by the power of the Holy Ghost, we know such a deep, calm joy, as makes us look for the coming of our Lord to introduce us into that fullness of joy which His presence only can give.
When we are enjoined to “be filled with the Spirit,” it is clear that it is not having more of the Spirit given to us; for, as we have seen, God does not give the Spirit by measure, but He gives us the Holy Ghost Himself. We read, therefore, that the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. As long as a Christian is encouraging fleshly and worldly lusts, he cannot be filled with the Spirit, for the Spirit is grieved; but when the believer is self-judged, and holds himself dead with Christ, instead of being occupied with self and worldly lusts, he becomes wholly occupied with Christ. Every faculty of his heart and mind is taken up with the Lord Jesus Christ; he is filled with the Spirit. The admonition of scripture, therefore, is, “Be not drunk with wane, wherein is excess”—fleshly lusts—“ but be filled with the Spirit.”
Η. H. S.