“My son, keep thy father’s
commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother:
Bind them continually upon
thine heart, and tie them about thy neck.
When thou goest, it shall
lead thee; when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee; and when thou awakest, it
shall talk with thee.” (Prov. 6:20-22).
“His delight is in the law of
the LORD; and in His law doth he meditate day and night.
And he shall be like a tree
planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season;
his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.” (Ps.
1:2,3).
“I Wisdom dwell with prudence….
Counsel is Mine, and sound wisdom: I am understanding; I have strength.” (Prov.
8:12,14).
“I love them that love Me;
and those that seek Me early shall find me…. But he that sinneth against Me
wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate Me love death.” (Prov. 8:17,36).
All who love the Word who was
made flesh love the truth that He bore to the world. All who love Him find His
mercies new every morning. And they will find Him making incursions into their
thoughts all day and all night. With delight they find His precepts making
incursions into their thoughts day and night. Not a dead letter or lifeless concept
entertains them day and night, but the Father’s imparted presence of His only
Begotten. None other than Jesus Himself entertains them with His truth and grace
that thrill them and teach them truth; it is Christ’s voice they hear in their thoughts.
“Thou wilt shew me the path
of life: in Thy presence is fulness of joy; at Thy right hand there are
pleasures for evermore.” (Ps. 16:11).
Jesus never comes to us
without teaching us more of His Father’s will. “Out of His mouth goeth a
sharp sword” (Rev. 19:15) —that is, the sword of truth, the “the sword of the
Spirit, which is the word of God.” (Eph. 6:17). “For the word of God is quick,
and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword” (Heb. 4:12). Jesus so identifies with with the word of His Father that He is the Word.
Jesus will show us the path of
life when His presence is near. It is His presence that makes truth so
pleasurable and powerful to overthrow the dug-in spells of Satan. The power of sin upon our soul that
affects our mind and body flees when the Spirit of Christ enters. When Jesus comes to us by His Spirit He brings with Him
truth and grace. His presence is full of biblical truth and grace. We become a
host for the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of truth. We become a host for the
possession by Christ and His ministering spirits.
“When the soul surrenders
itself to Christ, a new power takes possession of the new heart. A change is
wrought which man can never accomplish for himself. It is a supernatural work,
bringing a supernatural element into human nature. The soul that is yielded to
Christ becomes His own fortress, which He holds in a revolted world, and He
intends that no authority shall be known in it but His own. A soul thus kept in
possession by the heavenly agencies is impregnable to the assaults of Satan.” Desire of Ages, p. 324.
With Their truth and grace
furnishings our soul becomes a fit tabernacle for Jesus to abide with His cloud of heavenly
agencies. Our souls are holy temples, we become holy schoolhouses in which They dwell. “With deep earnestness the
mother of Jesus watched the unfolding of His powers.… Through the Holy Spirit
she received wisdom to co-operate with the heavenly agencies in the development
of this child, who could claim only God as His Father.” Desire of Ages, p. 69. “The child Jesus did not
receive instruction in the synagogue schools.… As He advanced from childhood to
youth, He did not seek the schools of the rabbis. He needed not the education
to be obtained from such sources; for God was His instructor.” Desire of Ages, p. 70.
In the above two quotations
we see that the Holy Spirit, who taught the mother of Jesus, was the same
teacher of her Son—God His Father.
Jesus never comes to us without bringing truth with Him; that is, biblical truth, His Father’s Law. This is the only way we know that the pleasure of His presence is not a familiar spirit that is pleasurable to our flesh. Christ, as the Spirit of truth, is the only way we know that His supernatural presence is not Satan through demonic Spiritual Exercises, his spiritualistic practices that come to us today by his more modern, accepted title, Spiritual Formation. The one true God, the Schoolmaster “scourgeth every son whom He receiveth.” (Heb. 12:6). If we are surrendered to the Schoolmaster’s scourging truth, then He immediately brings us to His Son to be justified and to be reconciled to Himself, God our Schoolmaster. “For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.” (Prov. 3:12). “THIS IS MY BELOVED SON, IN WHOM I AM WELL PLEASED; HEAR YE HIM”! (Matt. 17:5). Each sinner who the Schoolmaster gives to His Son will come to the Son; and the Son will in no wise cast him out. He has received Jesus and Jesus has received him. “Ye in Me, and I in you.” (John 14:20). In His acceptance he finds fullness of joy, and in His Spirit is life for evermore.
It is not an impersonal Law that “when thou goest, it shall lead thee; when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee; and when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee.” (Prov. 6:22). Rather, it is the Spirit of Christ, through the strong language of His Father’s Law and through His Father’s strong Spirit. They, the Father and Son Godhead, return to the renewed child of Adam with the same strong, holy communion that They had with unfallen Adam. And that holy communion is always in the context of the Law of God. Their communion is without the slightest bit of “lightness” (Jer. 23:32; 2Cor. 1:17), but it is full of light and delight.
To human hearts God sends His Son encased in
truth. “If ye love Me, keep My commandments.” (John 14:15). Their love to Christ and commandment-keeping go hand in hand. And, thus
the weakened children of God receive the strenth to meditate on His truth day and night. “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 14:16-18). Because the soul and Christ are reunited, His truth can efficiently
enter the conscience. The will easily binds the precepts of the Law upon
the heart and mind. The new Christians hold the truth in righteousness, handling the word of God
honestly; and they guard their new treasure from being poisoned with the leavening power
of Satan. They remain vigilant to anything that might prevent the testimony of Jesus from abiding with them forever.
“Yet a little while, and the world seeth Me no more; but ye see Me: because I live, ye shall live also. At that day ye shall know that I am in My Father, and ye in Me, and I in you.” (John 14:19,20). Because Jesus spoke of their future, He was really saying to His disciples that the world will see Him no more, but the disciples will see Him. He was speaking of Pentecost. In the near future then, they would confidently know Him to still be living by His powerful presence with them. “The times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; and He shall send Jesus Christ.” (Acts 3:19,20). The Father’s gift of Christ at Pentecost would launch them to give the gospel to the world. As lively stones of the church, they would become an unstoppable force to uplift the world from Satan’s squalor. The Law of the Lord would be written on their hearts and they would meditate on His Law day and night.
“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. Judas saith unto Him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that Thou wilt manifest Thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto 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).
Like David and Solomon, the
disciples had followed Jesus and had bound “His Law” (Isa. 42:4) in their hearts.
Therefore, wherever they went, His voice led them; whenever they slept, His Law kept
them; and when they awoke, Jesus talked with them. “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. And whatsoever ye
shall ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the
Son.” (John 14:12,,13).
“God is a Spirit” (John
4:24), and “the last Adam was made a quickening Spirit.” (1Cor. 15:45). “I and
My Father are one.” (John 10:30). They are two Spirits perfectly united and who work in perfect unison.
Therefore, “There is…one
Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling.” (Eph. 4:4). Jesus
said, “I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” (Matt.
9:13). “To Him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear His voice: and He calleth
His own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. And when He putteth forth His own
sheep, He goeth before them, and the sheep follow Him: for they know His voice….
And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and
they shall hear My voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd. My
sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me: and I give unto them
eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out
of My hand.” (John 10:3,4,16,27).
Jesus is saying that He is
the Spirit, through His Father’s greater power, which called to the world
beginning on the day of Pentecost. And He still calls to us, “Come. ...and drink
of the water of life freely.” “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.” (John 7:37,38).
“All power is given into His
hands, that He may dispense rich gifts unto men, imparting the priceless gift
of His own righteousness to the helpless human agent. This is the message that
God commanded to be given to the world. It is the third angel’s message, which
is to be proclaimed with a loud voice, and attended with the outpouring of His
Spirit in a large measure.” Testimonies
to Ministers, p. 91, 92. Christ and all of His heavenly and earthly
agencies, His “whole family in heaven and earth” (Eph. 3:15), His bride, will
give His final call to the world.
“The imparted Holy Spirit
enabled His disciples, the apostles, to stand firmly against every species of
idolatry and to exalt the Lord and Him alone.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 2, p. 14.
“Christ comes with His own
redeeming influence proposing through the agency of His Spirit to impart His
Spirit to impart His efficiency to men, and to employ them as His
instrumentalities, laborers together with Him in seeking to draw the world back
to its loyalty.” The Kress Collection,
p. 101.
“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…. 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 hear, that shall He speak: and He will shew you things to
come. He shall glorify Me: for He shall receive (G2983, lambanō) of Mine, and shall shew it unto you. All things that the
Father hath are Mine: therefore said I, that He shall take (G2983, lambanō) of Mine, and shall shew it unto
you.” (John 16:7-15).
Who is the “He” that Christ
called the Comforter who would “receive (G2983, lambanō) of Mine, and…shew it unto you”? The Comforter is “the
Father” who Jesus “therefore” had just previously said would “take (G2983, lambanō) of Mine, and…shew it unto you”.
“The Comforter” is “the
Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; who comforteth us in all our
tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by
the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.” (2Cor. 1:3,4).
The Comforter’s comfort comes
attached to justice and truth, tribulation and trouble. We can be thankful for the
Father’s comfort after He has scourged us with His holy, spiritual whip, and
then received us through our closer attachment with His Son. The Schoolmaster
has driven His Son to rule over us and to greatly multiply our sorrows, so that
our desire will be for a firmer hold on the Father’s commandments and statutes
and judgments, and a closer, constant dependence on our Intercessor’s ever-living advocacy. “With
Me in paradise” (Luke 23:43), we have eternal life today, and today we “sit in
heavenly places” (Eph. 2:6) next to our Lord who sits next to His Father, the LORD
of all, the Ancient of days. “God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 7:25), today lets
us be “translated into the kingdom of His dear Son” (Col. 1:13).
