The Spirit, the sealing

“How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” (Heb. 9:14).

God tempts no one. But He will test everyone, especially those who profess Him. He tests them by leaving them like He left His own Son in Gethsemane, and lets their sealing keep them from falling. Thus the 144,000 will be without fault before the throne of God.

“In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise.” (Eph. 1:13).

Through the “Spirit of promise” (Eph. 1:13), the “eternal Spirit” (Heb. 9:14), we can be kept from falling to temptation. We get the victory through entering into the eternal Spirit of the Father and Son’s infinite, inseparable, indissoluble, indivisible bond. That Spirit that seals eternally is the permanent seal from God. The permanent seal of an infinite bond, and the eternal Spirit, are synonymous.

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on Me hath everlasting life.” (John 6:47).

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” (John 5:24).

“Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.” (1Jn. 3:15).

The above verses tell us that eternal life starts the moment we trust in Jesus. And Ephesians 1:13 says that we are sealed with the Spirit because we trust in Jesus. Then, when we read John 3:16, shouldn’t we have in mind that same concept of the Son’s holy Spirit sealed in us—His life and His righteousness, His rest, and holiness and peace—unending, unquenchable, solid, impregnable, permanent, abundant, ongoing?

“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:

That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:14-16).

There is also the eternal hell misconception.

“Then shall He say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:” (Matt. 25:41).

“Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.” (Mark 9:48).

“Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.” (Jude 7).

The eternal fire upon Sodom is not still burning. The vale of Siddim isn’t still going up in smoke. “And he [Abraham] looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace.” (Gen. 19:28). The cities burned until there was nothing left to burn. Their fire was unquenchable—“eternal”, “everlasting” (Jude 6). The only thing left of the plain was burning salt under the burning sun.

We can redefine the concept of eternal when “unending” doesn’t fit the context, such as with Sodom and Gomorrah, and with an eternally burning hell. So why can’t we do that for other biblical concepts, such as “the eternal Spirit”? And why is it so difficult to see that the Spirit is the union, the bond, the Father and Son’s presence and the glory that comes with Their presence (see John 17:5; 14:23), the reconciliation between the poured out, satisfied soul of our heavenly Parents and the poured out, contrite, converted soul of Their earthly children?

Those paradigms from the Dark Ages, that of a third person of the Godhead, which still cling to Reformation doctrine, need to be recanted, up-rooted and renounced, eternally.

The Father and the Son dot nothing

“For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,)

But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by Him.” (1Cor. 8:5,6).

The Trinity formula itemizes the Godhead as such: God, the Father; God, the Son; and God, the Holy Spirit. It goes further to boil Them down to three Gods who, in the distant past, came together and voted on who would play the part of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Any in-depth study of the Trinity will tell you this. But then the study will say that They aren’t really three Gods because that would be Tri-theism, which would mean polytheism. Instead, the study will say, They are one God in three persons.

But that isn’t at all the picture we get from 1 Corinthians 8:6. In 1 Corinthians 8:6 there is only one God, and He isn’t a trinity. He is a singular person—the Father. The sentence says that the “one God” who we have is “the Father”—“of whom (‘whom’ being a singular relative pronoun denoted by its singular pronoun ‘Him’) are all things, and we in Him.” Put together, both parts of Paul’s phraseology communicates a single person with a two-fold position by His relation to all creation, “God”, and by His relation to His family in heaven and earth, “the Father”.

“Every manifestation of creative power is an expression of infinite love. The sovereignty of God involves fullness of blessing to all created beings.…

     The Sovereign of the universe was not alone in His work of beneficence. He had an associate--a co-worker who could appreciate His purposes, and could share His joy in giving happiness to created beings. ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God.’ John 1:1, 2. Christ, the Word, the only begotten of God, was one with the eternal Father--one in nature, in character, in purpose--the only being that could enter into all the counsels and purposes of God. ‘His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.’ Isaiah 9:6. His ‘goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.’ Micah 5:2. And the Son of God declares concerning Himself: ‘The Lord possessed Me in the beginning of His way, before His works of old. I was set up from everlasting. . . . When He appointed the foundations of the earth: then I was by Him, as one brought up with Him: and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him.’ Proverbs 8:22-30.” Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 33,34.

 

Isn’t the Son divine? Yes! But He is not God, because, according to the opening text, there is “but one God”, who is “the Father”, and who Jesus prayed to as “the only true God” (John 17:3). Other than the Father there is only One other Being on the throne, “Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by Him” (1Cor. 8:6).

Why is the Son divine if He can’t hold the title of God?

He is divine because He is begotten of God. The Son is divine by virtue of His being literally born of God.

“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14).

The Son’s position is to exemplify to creation perfect submission to the Father.

“For He [God] hath put all things under His [Son’s] feet. But when He [God] saith all things are put under Him [His Son], it is manifest that He [God] is excepted, which did put all things under Him [His Son]. And when all things shall be subdued unto Him [His Son], then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto Him that put all things under Him, that God may be all in all.” (1Cor. 15:27,28).

“Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the Book it is written of Me,

I delight to do Thy will, O My God: yea, Thy Law is within My heart.” (Ps. 40:7,8).

“Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the Book it is written of Me,) to do Thy will, O God.” (Heb. 10:7).

 The Son’s position is also to perfectly reveal the will of His Father to Their family in heaven and earth. Only the only-Begotten knows how to express the will of His Father perfectly because He has ever been the Beloved of God. In all the high commands of God there is love. And all His commands are enablings, via the love intertwined in His overwhelmingly strong messages, a love that the Son must make apparent by His voice of obvious, reassuring comfort. Without that intercession by Christ God’s creatures would be destroyed by His over-powering Law. Thus they can love the Father with all their heart and will, and not feel intimidated by the Law-giver, or to speak with Him through “the Spirit of His Son” (Gal. 4:6) who sanctifies and empowers their prayer. “And He [God] that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because He maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.” (Rom. 8:27)

“No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him.” (John 1:18).

“At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.

Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in Thy sight.

All things are delivered unto Me of My Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and He to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him.” (Matt. 11:25-27).

“He that cometh from above is above all: He that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: He that cometh from heaven is above all.

And what He hath seen and heard, that He testifieth; and no man receiveth His testimony.

He that hath received His testimony hath set to his seal that God is true.

For He whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto Him.

The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into His hand.

He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” (John 3:31-36).

The Son has “divine power” to give “us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue:

Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises” (2Pet. 1:3,4).

So that we might take part in His “divine nature” (2Pet. 1:4), “who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.” (Rom. 9:5).

“In Him was life; and the life was the light of men.” (John 1:4). While, “if there had been a Law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the Law.” (Gal. 3:21). “But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.” (Gal. 3:22). The Son is our only help to hear God and to heed His commands.

The Son is the only begotten, the Prōtotokos.

“And again, when He bringeth in the Firstbegotten into the world, He saith, And let all the angels of God worship Him.” (Heb. 1:6), “whom Thou hast sent” (John 17:3). He was already the firstbegotten before He was incarnated, for all things were made by Him, and for Him.

“For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him.” (Col. 1:16).

Then, what about God the Holy Spirit?

Neither is that in the Bible anywhere. In the word of God there is no “God, the Son”, and “God, the Holy Spirit”. These titles are completely man-made, and cannot be used to prove anything the Godhead. When talking about the Bible, I can understand taking the liberty of paraphrasing quotations from the scriptures. But paraphrasing quotations should never be done when proving biblical truth.

Ellen White was all the time quoting phrases from the Bible without quotation marks. And sometimes she paraphrased. But she also used quoted verses with their quotation marks much of the time.

And she always used “only begotten Son” instead of “God the Son”.

The trouble comes when we use paraphrased verses or paraphrased biblical phrases so often that they become tradition—that is, unbiblical ideas that are accepted as biblical. This is exactly how human tradition supplants divine truth. This is how Satan has always been able to alter doctrine to vindicate and exalt himself. That happened again in the post-apostolic church. They allowed a tidal wave of pagan philosophy and occult practices into the church and into its doctrines.

The Egyptian trinity was made up of their chiefest gods, Osiris, Isis, and Horus, or Osiris, Isis, and Set. Set was Osiris’ elder brother who usurped the mythical throne, and who Osiris killed. Set was not only an equal to Osiris, but superior. This Set was Satan who said,

“How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!

 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:

I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.” (Isa. 14:12-15).

Who was “Horus”? He was the son of Osiris and Isis. And Isis, as queen of heaven, holds the same title as Mary and the Holy Spirit, as explained in the following authoritative, well-documented website:

https://mikeblume.com/pagantr.htm.

“At first the Mysteries only had Adad as the "One God" (Macrobii Saturnalia lib. I. cap. 23. p. 73).  Adad, being triune, allowed three different forms of divinity when the Babylonian Mystery of Iniquity formed further.  The Babylonians used an equilateral triangle to display this concept, just as Trinitarians do today!! (Layard, Babylon and Ninevah, p.605).  The Egyptians did the same (Maurice, Indian Antiquities, vol. iv. p. 445. London, 1794).  These forms became the Father, Mother and Son.  Apuleius tells us that when he was initiated, the goddess Isis revealed herself to him as:

"The first of the celestials, and the uniform manifestation of the gods and goddesses...  WHOSE ONE SOLE DIVINITY the whole orb of the earth venerated, and under a manifold form, with different rites, and under a variety of appellations;"

And going over many of these appellations, she declares herself at one instance as "Pessinuntica, the mother of the gods (i.e.  Cybele), and Paphian Venus."

Originally the Mysteries set out with the doctrine of the Unity of the godhead.  Wilkinson writes:

"I have stated that Amun-re and other gods took the form of different deities, which, though it appears at first sight to represent some difficulty, may readily be accounted for when we consider that each one of those figures or emblems that were adopted, was only an emanation, or deified attribute of the Same Great Being to whom they ascribe various characters, according to the several offices he was supposed to perform."

Based on the question of the identification of Cybele and Astarte we see the following.  Fundamentally there was only one goddess - the Holy Spirit, represented as female, when the distinction of sex was wickedly assigned to the godhead.  This happened through a perversion of the Scriptural idea that all children of God were begotten by the Father, and born of the Spirit in a husband and wife scenario.

The Spirit of God was represented as the Mother in the form of a dove.  This was supposedly based upon the reference to the Spirit that "fluttered" at the creation.  This is the exact meaning of the term in Gen.  1:2.  "The Spirit fluttered on the face of the waters".  Therefore this goddess was called Ops, "the Flutterer", or Juno, "The Dove", or Kubele, "The Binder with Cords".  This last title had a reference to the "bands of love, the cords of man", referred to in Hosea 11:4 as "Khubeli Adam".  God supposedly draws man unto himself with such cords, and also bound Adam to God through the Spirit’s indwelling while the covenant of Eden was unbroken.”

This explains why, of late, Seventh-day Adventist churches are starting to pray to “God the Holy Spirit”. We are being inched closer and closer to the spiritualized Sunday churches and the Vatican’s program of Ecumenism.

The truth of the Holy Spirit is that it is really God’s Spirit, the Spirit of Him who is “Holy, Holy, Holy” (Rev. 4:8). The Father alone is “Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.” (Rev. 4:8). It’s the Father who was depicted by “Him [singular pronoun] that sat on the throne, and ...Him [singular pronoun] that liveth for ever and ever” (Rev. 4:10).

The Father alone has lived forever and ever. The Father alone is the Potentate, the “Sovereign of the universe,” as Ellen White penned His title in Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 33.

He alone has ever been, long before His blessed only Begotten came forth from His bosom.

“Until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ: which in His times He shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.” (1Tim. 6:14-16).

Jesus will show this when He is finished putting all enemies down and then subjecting Himself to His Father who is “all in all” (1Cor. 15:28).

The Spirit is the indissoluble union between the Father and the only Begotten Son, that we, Their family in heaven and earth, have the great privilege to share in when we are reconciled with Them in new birth.

“But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the Law,

To redeem them that were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.

And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.” (Gal. 4:4-6).

“Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” (John 3:5).

Without measure the Father’s Spirit dwells in His Son, our Intercessor, and He dispenses it to His children.

“For He whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto Him.” (John 3:34).

“And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.” (Rev. 5:6).

“And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost.” (John 20:22).

“And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” (Acts 2:2-4).

The Spirit that we know of is Jesus. It is His presence, His voice. The Spirit is His Spirit; it is verily Jesus Himself as much as my voice is me. Without seeing our acquaintances we recognize their voice as them. Without being next to our loved ones we recognize their distant presence as them. Why then is it difficult to accept Jesus' presence as Him? Why must His presence be another person? Why must His voice to our soul come from a third person? Everything in the word of God is about Jesus, and from Jesus. Through Jesus, and Him alone, we know the Father; and through Jesus and Him alone, we come to the Father. Any other source of life is a liar, a usurper of Christ, a thief, and a murderer.

“Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of Me. And ye will not come to Me, that ye might have life.” (John 5:39,40).

“And it waxed great, even to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them. Yea, he magnified himself even to the Prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of His sanctuary was cast down.” (Dan. 8:10,11).