What Does the Coming of the Comforter Mean?

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I1 have no pleasure in mere controversy, and as I noticed Mr. G.’s previous article( on the church only at the request of those interested in the subject, I take notice of his reply for the same reason, but only of what refers to the main subject, which is all important.
I have no doubt, though unacquainted with him, that Mr. G. is a good man, and I have no wish to violate in any way the amenities of Christian charity with one who is a brother in Christ, as controversy tends to do. One should ask oneself now “Is this what I should wish it to have been when I come before the Lord?” If I should fail in this I must, anticipating, beg Mr. G. to forgive me. I have no consciousness of an ungracious feeling, but Mr. G. will not deny that “What is the Church?” is an important question for us all.
I will reply, then, to his article in Our Banner of April 16, in what touches that question, and even so, I do it reluctantly. Positive truth is happier service. Mr. G. insists that the Church was Israel. That it was at first composed of Jews no one denies. God, as I said before, waiting on Israel in gracious patience, consequent withal on Christ’s intercession on the cross (Luke 23:34); the third of Acts, not the second, being the reply of the Holy Ghost by the mouth of Peter thereto.
This was not only addressed to Israel but about Israel, calling them as a nation to repent and Jesus would return, the words of the Holy Ghost answering to Jesus’ prayer. “When the times of refreshing” ver. 19, should be “so that the times of refreshing;” ὄπως ἄν has no other sense in Greek. The Jews’ repentance would be the occasion of God’s intervention in their favor, and then the blessing and peace of the world promised in the prophets would be established, commonly called the millennium. But in this case there was no gathering. The Jewish authorities would not even allow the Apostle to finish his speech. But Mr. G.’s argument as to Acts 2 has no force whatever. The Apostle’s sermon was addressed to the Jews, to Israel, if you will, but what has that to do with the Church being Israel? The effect of the sermon under the power of the spirit was to gather out of Israel, three thousand, to form, so far, the church——to begin it among that people, though the doctrine of it was not taught till Paul’s time. He was a minister of the church to fulfill or complete the word of God (Col. 1:26). But to argue that the church was Israel, because Israel was preached to, and many gathered out of Israel to form it, has no possible force. If a missionary gathers a body of Christians from among the heathen in India, converted to God by grace, are they still heathens, and Christianity a continuation of their religion? No doubt they were by natural birth, as the Jews were Jews, but to say that the church is heathen is absurd. Those called out from Israel who were saved from that untoward generation, were the church, or assembly of God. Israel remained Israel, and was, for the time, hardened in the heart and cut off.
Mr. G. must allow me to complete the quoted prophecy of Joel, “The promise is unto you and to your children.” There Mr. G. stops. The Apostle adds “and to all that are afar off, even to as many as the Lord your God shall call.” Now that God did not reject the Jews till they had refused to receive a glorified Christ, as well as crucified a humbled one (a measure of sin and unbelief completed in the stoning of Stephen, who sums up their conduct from Abraham to that day where also Paul, the minister of the church, first comes upon the scene), is quite true, and hence that God waited and did not reveal all His counsels as to the union of Jew and Gentile. But the language omitted by Mr. G. throws it open in principle, and if it does not, why does he omit it?
The promise was given to Israel especially, but by adding all flesh, the prophecy was in prospect carried out farther. It is the accustomed term for this in the Old Testament. “All flesh shall see the salvation of God.” “By His fire and by His sword shall the Lord plead with all flesh.” The “specially to Israel” does not exclude this. He was to be a light to lighten (to reveal) the Gentiles, and the glory of His people, Israel. Let my reader consult Jer. 25:15-33, where the Lord declares He will plead with all flesh, beginning with Jerusalem (18-29, see Num. 16:22). So to Christ, power is given over all flesh. But let the reader only take a concordance, and he will at once see the force of these words, its absolute universality, and where needed, contrast with Israel. He will readily understand why Mr. G. omits it, and what is far better, how God uses it, and how, while preserving the promises to Israel, it extends blessing and judgment to all, and putting the Jew first, goes out to the Greek.
Repentance and remission of sins were to be preached in His name, beginning at Jerusalem. So even Paul, who knew no difference, for that all had sinned, yet went to the Jew first, and also to the Greek, saying that Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God to confirm the promises made to the fathers, and that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy, as it is written. Till the Jews rejected a glorified Christ the patience of God dealt with them as a nation for repentance, and gathered the members of His assembly from that people, calling then Cornelius by Peter, that all might be one, but using Paul as the instrument for unfolding the doctrine of the assembly and the ministration of the Gospel to the nations, a mission the others gave up entirely to him (Gal. 2).
Did Mr. G. see the Lord’s coming and the setting up of Christ’s kingdom by power, I might go further into this. Let him here only ponder this, that the little stone, cut out without hands, did not become a mountain to fill the whole earth, till after it had executed judgment. The knowledge of this would help in the understanding of Joel* and interpret many passages now obscure and falsely applied by those who do not see it. But I must now confine myself to my reply.
As regards my alleged mistake of taking organization for privilege (and Christian privileges do occupy the greatest part of my paper), I shall only quote Mr. G.’s words, “To them (the Jews) pertained the adoption, glory, covenant, giving of the law, service, and the promises (Rom. 9:4). Nothing more can be said of the church now.” Anyone can decide whether this applies to organization or privileges, and whether it is not an assertion that they had all that the church has now.
As to the coming of the Holy Ghost, the most essential point of all, I do mean to say that the Comforter, the Holy Ghost, did not come till after Christ was glorified. The word of God is positive and express as to this, and it is what is at the root of the question. What I have said about this, or rather what the blessed Lord, and the word have said of it is quite plain. The Holy Ghost as God, is everywhere. “He inspired,” I said, “the prophets, and wrought all through the divine history.” But and if Christ and the divine word tell us the truth, we must so believe, the Comforter could not come until Christ went away and was glorified. “Christ,” I remarked, “had created the world, but He did not come till the incarnation.” “I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world; again I leave the world and go to the Father.”
I shall repeat what the word of God says on this point as it is the real and vital question. It is a scriptural fact which constitutes Christianity, and the denial of the plain scriptural statements on the subject, or the neglect of them, is what has Judaized Christianity, plunged the assembly of God into the world, and made it as it now stands, the powerless prey to infidelity. The death and resurrection of Christ are the foundations of Christianity, the presence of the Holy Ghost as personally come into the world, that is, to believers in it, is the essential living power and characteristic of Christianity and the Christian.
And I add now, that Christ glorified as man, received Him (the Holy Ghost) afresh when so glorified, to shed Him forth on His disciples. Christ had not received Him to this end till after His ascension, Acts 2:33. “Therefore, being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, He path shed forth this which ye now see and hear.”
I am not going to reason as Mr. G. does, but to quote the word of God. Mr. G. speaks of “pouring out,” as giving in abundance, and that such only is the difference. When was the Spirit of God poured out before Pentecost? But I will quote the texts, and to them I can claim the submission of every child of God. I have done so, but I press this point as a cardinal one, constituting Christianity as revealed in the New Testament.
In John 7 Christ not then showing Himself to the world according to the yet unfulfilled type of the feast of Tabernacles, says on the special, last (eighth) and great day of the feast, “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,” and the Evangelist adds: “This spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive, for the Holy Ghost was not yet (given), for Jesus was not yet glorified.” Compare Acts 2 already quoted. There is no question of a greater or fuller measure. What is said is the Holy Ghost (πνευμα ἄγιον) was not yet. That is, as come and dwelling in believers. So the baptizing with the Holy Ghost was the second of the two great works of Christ. He was the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, but He on whom, as man, the Holy Ghost descended and abode, He it was who would baptize with the Holy Ghost. This took place, as regards the one hundred and twenty, on the day of Pentecost, according to Christ’s word (Acts 1:5), and Christ being exalted and glorified according to John 7 shed forth the Holy Ghost according to the promise in Joel. The difference of the Spirit in the prophets, and the presence of the Holy Ghost as come down from Heaven, is clearly marked in 1 Peter 1:11-13: “The Spirit of Christ which was in them testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory (glories) which should follow. Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister 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.” There was a testimony beforehand, by the Spirit of Christ in the prophets, but with the gospel the things were, not brought, but reported with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, and then we are told that the things will be brought to us at the revelation of Jesus Christ, for which we must wait. The distinction, then, is perfectly scriptural, and the distinction made in scripture, that distinction being marked by “sent down from heaven.” But further I add the positive texts (John 14:16), “I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Comforter that He may abide with you forever;” (25, 26), “These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. But the Comforter which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, He shall teach you all things.” (15:26), “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth.” (16:7), “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, and when He is come.” And the Acts and Epistles confirm these plain testimonies. The former I have quoted I add (19), “We have not so much as heard whether the Holy Ghost is.” The same words as in John 7. So Eph. 1:13, “In whom also, after that ye believed ye were sealed by that Holy Spirit of promise”—till Christ was glorified, promised, but not come; but now come, and given to believers as a seal. Their unity was the unity of the Spirit; there was one Spirit and one body. They were not to grieve the Holy Spirit of God by which they were sealed to the day of redemption (Gal. 3:2), “They had received the Spirit by the hearing of faith.” (1 Cor. 12), “All these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit dividing to every man severally as He will.” “By one Spirit they were all baptized into one body.” Christianity is the ministration of the Spirit, in contrast with the law (2 Cor. 3) And it is a great mistake to suppose that miraculous gifts and prophesy were the special and most important effects. The disciples were not to rejoice that demons were subject unto them, but rather that their names were written in heaven. Men might have supernatural power (1 Cor. 8), without being converted, and in the Old Testament we have instances of it, but if sealed with the Holy Ghost, it was as believers, and for the day of redemption. They could then (Gal. 4) cry Abba Father, being sons by faith in Christ Jesus, they (John 16) know they are in Christ and Christ in them (1 John 4:13.) They know, and that by the Spirit given to them, that they dwell in God, and God in them. His love is shed abroad in their hearts by the Holy Ghost given to them (Rom. 5:5.) Their bodies are temples. The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit, helps our infirmities; we are led by the Spirit, mind the things of the Spirit: He which establishes in Christ, and has anointed us is God, who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts (2 Cor. 1:21,22). He who hath wrought us for the self-same thing (the glory), is God, who hath also given us the earnest of the Spirit (2 Cor. 5:5). All this is more than power and prophecy. It is the Christian state, and is contrasted (Gal. 4) with the Jewish believer, consequent on accomplished and known redemption. The more the reader examines the Word, the more he will find the presence of the Holy Ghost in the believer and in the assembly, essentially and distinctively characteristic of Christianity.
(To be continued.)
 
1. Serving as a reply to the second article on “The Church in the Old Testament” in “Our Banner” (an American Periodical), April 16, 1877.
2. ( See Bible Witness and Review, Vol. 1, p. 240
3. * Thus in Joel it is before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes that there is deliverance in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and with this chapter 3 is connected.