The Lord GOD and his spirit

Isa_48:16  Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord GOD, and his Spirit, hath sent me.

People have said that Isaiah 48:16 proves that the “Holy Spirit” is another member of the Godhead, a third person, a third divine being. But I believe anyone can see that a simple comparison of the construction of Isaiah 48:16 will show that this verse must not be understood by modern language and our straight-forward, Hellenized form of communicating. Isaiah 48:16 must be properly understood by the Hebraic form of communicating, as we will see below. Specifically what I mean is the use of the word, “and”. “And” does not necessarily mean an addition of subjects, but rather can bring added emphasis, for another quality, description, or attribute of the original person.

This is what we see in the following biblical texts.

 Eph_5:20  Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;

Col_1:3  We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,

Col_3:17  And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.

Jas_1:27  Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

Rev_1:6  And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

Are God and the Father two different persons? Obviously not. No one would ever say that. Other texts that say this don’t use “and” as seen below, which we as 21st century readers recognize to be the norm. But, it wasn’t always the norm. Comparing scripture with scripture, line upon line, we see that to use “and” doesn’t mean any differently in the first verses quoted above. “And” has sometimes simply been a different language and literary construct from the past.

Joh_6:27  Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.

Gal_1:1  Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead;)

Gal_1:3  Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ,

Eph_6:23  Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Php_2:11  And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

1Th_1:1  Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians which is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.

2Ti_1:2  To Timothy, my dearly beloved son: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

Tit_1:4  To Titus, mine own son after the common faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour.

1Pe_1:2  Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.

2Pe_1:17  For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

2Jn_1:3  Grace be with you, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.

Jud_1:1  Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called:

 “God the Father”, “God and the Father”, or “God and his Father” (Rev. 1:6), all say the same thing. God is the Father. His only begotten Son is “Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood” (Rev. 1:5). God and the Father are not two separate persons. Then let’s read Isaiah 48:16 the same way. Basic ancient syntax and grammar reads Isaiah 48:16 as “the Lord GOD his spirit sent me”, or rather, “Adonoy Jehovah his spirit sent me”. In the minds of prophet and people monotheism reigned supreme. No one in Israel would have understood that Isaiah was sent by two Gods. They would have interpreted Isaiah to mean that the Spirit of the Lord had sent him. Not two Gods, but Christ alone has been the medium of communication and communion between God and man.

“This ladder represented Christ, who had opened the communication between earth and heaven. In Christ’s humiliation He descended to the very depth of human woe in sympathy and pity for fallen man, which was represented to Jacob by one end of the ladder resting upon the earth, while the top of the ladder, reaching unto heaven, represents the divine power of Christ, who grasps the Infinite, and thus links earth to heaven and finite man to the infinite God. Through Christ the communication is opened between God and man. Angels may pass from heaven to earth with messages of love to fallen man, and to minister unto those who shall be heirs of salvation. It is through Christ alone that the heavenly messengers minister to men.” Selected Messages, book 1, p. 280.

“In the vision the plan of redemption was presented to Jacob, not fully, but in such parts as were essential to him at that time. The mystic ladder revealed to him in his dream was the same to which Christ referred in His conversation with Nathanael. Said He, ‘Ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.’ John 1:51. Up to the time of man’s rebellion against the government of God, there had been free communion between God and man. But the sin of Adam and Eve separated earth from heaven, so that man could not have communion with his Maker. Yet the world was not left in solitary hopelessness. The ladder represents Jesus, the appointed medium of communication. Had He not with His own merits bridged the gulf that sin had made, the ministering angels could have held no communion with fallen man. Christ connects man in his weakness and helplessness with the source of infinite power.”  Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 184.

 

“In all these revelations of the divine presence the glory of God was manifested through Christ. Not alone at the Saviour’s advent, but through all the ages after the Fall and the promise of redemption, ‘God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself.’ 2 Corinthians 5:19. Christ was the foundation and center of the sacrificial system in both the patriarchal and the Jewish age. Since the sin of our first parents there has been no direct communication between God and man. The Father has given the world into the hands of Christ, that through His mediatorial work He may redeem man and vindicate the authority and holiness of the law of God. All the communion between heaven and the fallen race has been through Christ. It was the Son of God that gave to our first parents the promise of redemption. It was He who revealed Himself to the patriarchs. Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses understood the gospel. They looked for salvation through man’s Substitute and Surety. These holy men of old held communion with the Saviour who was to come to our world in human flesh; and some of them talked with Christ and heavenly angels face to face. 

     Christ was not only the leader of the Hebrews in the wilderness--the Angel in whom was the name of Jehovah, and who, veiled in the cloudy pillar, went before the host--but it was He who gave the law to Israel. Amid the awful glory of Sinai, Christ declared in the hearing of all the people the ten precepts of His Father’s law. It was He who gave to Moses the law engraved upon the tables of stone. 

     It was Christ that spoke to His people through the prophets. The apostle Peter, writing to the Christian church, says that the prophets “prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow.” 1 Peter 1:10, 11. It is the voice of Christ that speaks to us through the Old Testament. ‘The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.’ Revelation 19:10.” Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 366.

“The Saviour had not come to set aside what patriarchs and prophets had spoken; for He Himself had spoken through these representative men. All the truths of God’s word came from Him.” Desire of Ages. p. 287.

Look at some other examples of the ancient grammar of “and” and see if they are not simply a bridge between two words that can be made invisible, and even put out of use today, yet mean the same as in the past:

Mat_24:48  But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming;

Luk_12:45  But and if that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to beat the menservants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken;

Luk_20:6  But and if we say, Of men; all the people will stone us: for they be persuaded that John was a prophet.

1Co_7:11  But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband: and let not the husband put away his wife.

1Co_7:28  But and if thou marry, thou hast not sinned; and if a virgin marry, she hath not sinned. Nevertheless such shall have trouble in the flesh: but I spare you.

1Pe_3:14  But and if ye suffer for righteousness’ sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled;

Joh_6:62 What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before?

Rev_17:6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.

Isa_34:16  Seek ye out of the book of the LORD, and read: no one of these shall fail, none shall want her mate: for my mouth it hath commanded, and his spirit it hath gathered them.

Compare the last two references to the Lord and His spirit. The Lord’s Spirit reveals the work that He does. The Spirit is the Lord’s mouth. What does the Almighty’s mouth do? It commands, It moves, as in holy men being “moved by the Holy Ghost” (2Pet. 1:21). Isaiah 34:16 says that that is what His Spirit does. A plain reading of this verse says that His mouth works in conjunction with His Spirit. We see this also in Isaiah 48:13.

Isa 48:13  Mine Hand also hath laid the foundation of the earth, and My right Hand hath spanned the heavens: when I call unto them, they stand up together.

Isaiah 34:16 and Isaiah 48:13 give the context of the key text we started with, Isaiah 48:16, a verse that people use to prove that the Spirit as a separate person. But, from a plain reading of these verses we get a clear insight into the Spirit of God, that it is simply His Spirit; it is “the power of the Highest” (Luke 1:35), the power in the Most High to do His will. His Spirit is His power unto creation and over His creations, and it is His power unto salvation and over His subjects of salvation, His delivered saints. He is their Lord, and with His omnipotent work, in His presence, they “do…the things which I say.” (Luke 6:46, cf Jer. 15:19). His power, His word moves His inanimate creation and animal kingdom to do His bidding. Why are His human creatures, who are made in His image, rebellious toward His commands, His biddings?

The almighty Lord God has His Spirit just as we have our spirit (see 1 Corinthians 2:11). He has His Mouth, just as we have our mouth. He has His right Hand, just as we have our right hand. We are made in His image. From the abundance of our spirit our mouth speaks and our hand acts; and likewise His abundant Mouth speaks and powerful Hand works from the abundance of His Spirit. His Spirit functions similarly as His Mouth in that its almighty powerful aspect of His mind causes His almighty Mouth to speak and His omnipotent righteous right Hand to cause His providences. His Spirit, His Mouth, and His Hand were involved in bringing vultures to the vulture friends spoken of in Isaiah 34:16, for them all to feed on the slain enemies of Israel. His Mouth, His Hand, and His Spirit called the animals to feast on the dead rebels of the kingdom of God.

How can we say that the Lord’s Spirit, His Mouth, and His righteous right Hand are separate entities, separate persons, from Himself? If we say His Spirit is a separate person, then we must say the same thing about His Mouth and His Hand. The Mouth and Hand of the Lord are not separate persons, distinct from the One who owns that almighty Mouth and Hand. His almighty Mouth and Hand are simply the part of God that commands the human and animal kingdom. They are the manifestation of Him that our minds detect and comprehend.

And so is His almighty Spirit, the Spirit of truth and Comforter, our Wonderful Counselor.

“Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord .” (2Cor. 3:17,18). God has a Law, and is the Law, His Law being a transcript of Himself (see Romans 7:25; 8:7; 4:15; Galatians 3:24; Hebrews 12:6). God is a Spirit and has a Spirit. Likewise, are we in our sphere, being made in His image. We are “living soul[s]” (Gen. 2:7), yet we possess a soul, the place of God’s peace within our mind. Even as David pined to himself, “Why art thou cast down, O my soul; why art thou disquieted within me?” (Ps. 42:11, cf vs. 2,5,6). And even as David mourned the loss of his peace from Jesus,  “Lord, why castest Thou off my soul? Why hidest Thou Thy face from me?” (Ps. 88:14).

That converted soul finds its great peace and comfort while abiding in connection with the Lord who put the soul in man when He breathed into His nostrils His holy Spirit of life. The human soul, by His Spirit, is the Lord’s resting place in man, His footstool upon the mercy seat of the redeemed man. His power that reconciles the heart and mind to God, and brings calm to His creation by closing in man the oppressive breach made by the presence of the spirit of Satan.

The Trinity Tapeworm

“And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land.

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. 8:9-11).

A tapeworm hides within the Godhead and it resides in the second person of the trinity doctrine.

That tapeworm is the third person of the trinity doctrine. He is the god of this world who has appeared to grow higher than the heavens like a gigantic marshmallow man. He has waxed great even to the throne of God. He lets us have the Word of God, but only if we interpret it according to his doctrines. He lets us have the Godhead, if only we interpret it according to his trinity. All of his ancient pagan paradigms must pass as truth, and even biblical truth. His sacred cows and taboos must oversee our plain reading of line upon line and precept upon precept.

Thus, when the attributes of Christ are plainly seen in the Bible, it is the third person tapeworm who the masses of Christianity understand to have Jesus’ attributes. All the glory and gladness that human hearts of all religions want to give to the only begotten Son of God go to the tapeworm who gets all that glory and keeps Christ from being magnified in the hearts of mankind. By the trinity doctrine, the trinity son has an inner god that swallows every hope and praise, prayer and faith that God and His true church have ever loaded onto Christ. Thus, the true Son of God rarely receives the faith and hope and praise and prayers, because they are derailed by the trinity doctrine and sent to the trinity tapeworm who grabs the souls of men and devours their faith before the true Christ can convict and comfort them. Meanwhile, the kingdom of Christ on earth shrinks in size and suffers starvation from Christ’s usurper.

Like it was before John the Baptist presented Christ to the world, and was said again after the apostle John passed away, it can still be said today, “The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.” (Matt. 11:12).

While the trinity doctrine Jesus smiles and cajoles, inside of him is a ravenous beast, the third person of the trinity doctrine pulling the ropes and manipulating the head and the body members. No love passes from the tapeworm hiding in the trinity doctrine Jesus, and no love passes from the trinity Jesus. The trinity doctrine Jesus never gave his life as a ransom for sinners. He never knew eternal loss; he never knew infinite sorrow. He never had self-sacrificing love. He never felt pain of our second childbirth, but he still claimed the exaltation of the Mother of all living. But, he has absorbed the attributes of the one true Son of God—the only begotten Son of the living God, the fullness of the Godhead manifested, the only divine Heir to the throne of Him who alone “liveth for ever and ever” (Rev. 4:10). The trinity Jesus devours human sacrifices by the billions. It’s the genocide of the human race because they cannot love God like they would if the tapeworm doctrine delusion did not exist.

Every time a worshiper thinks or reads the words, “Christ”, “Jesus”, “Son of God”, “only begotten”, etc. the worshiper re-interprets Him as “Apollyon” (Rev. 9:11), “the destroyer”, the devouring third person of the trinity doctrine. In the minds of many worshipers, it’s not Christ who personally dwells in the Christian, or comforts the Christian, or convicts the Christian. The trinity doctrine Christ stays in heaven, sitting on a throne or officiating in a sanctuary. He can’t visit His children on earth. They cannot speak directly to Him, neither He to them, because a substitute has moved between Him and them via doctrine, false doctrine. Two millennia ago, he one true Christ who sits on the right hand of God was eclipsed by a counterfeit, an imposter who is identical to His size and shape, darkening His true glory. This eclipser, by ruse doctrine, has put Jesus 400 times further away from every one of us. This allowed the eclipser, who is 400 times smaller and infinitely dimmer than Jesus, to shift the church’s focus onto himself and to his kingdom of darkness. As he passed on he collected almost the whole world by his fraud, and left the one true Christ with only a few poor men clinging to Him.

Christ was hidden from sight. Now the Christian world’s focus is on the eclipser, the usurper, the tapeworm. The “Spirit” gets our confidence, our private yearnings, our public praises and songs. The “Spirit” has become our intercessor, the one with whom we directly meet. The Trinitarian third person “Spirit” never existed in the Bible without manipulating the scriptures. He dispenses all the comfort as the true Spirit of Christ, “Spirit of His Son” (Gal. 4:6), but the comfort comes freely without accountability. He dispenses grace freely without the unvarnished truth of prophets. Because he offers the smooth, super-sweet sayings and the undue familiarity of the familiar spirits, which sinners love to hear, the eclipser/usurper/tapeworm wins the hearts of the whole world. The world believes they serve Jesus, the Word made flesh. But, their Jesus is full of grace and more grace, not the true Word made flesh who was full of grace and truth. Truth cannot enter the trinity doctrine Jesus. In the trinity doctrine truth, correction, justice are called the trespasser. If truth calls to the worshipers from the sidewalk, the church calls 911, and policemen come and arrest the truth. Thus the God of grace and truth can never enter, and the fraudulent vicar of Jesus continues his wicked ministry undisturbed.

“And this is the record^G3141, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.” (1Jn. 5:11-13).

“It is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth…. If we receive the witness of men, the witness^G3141 of God is greater: for this is the witness^G3141 of God which He hath testified of His Son. He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness^G3141 in himself: he that believeth not God hath made Him a liar; because he believeth not the record^G3141 that God gave of His Son.” (1Jn. 5:6,9,10).

G3141 marturia From G3144; evidence given (judicially or generally)

It is the Spirit that bears witness (or gives evidence) that is the subject of 1 John 5:6. And without changing the context’s subject John says in verses 9 and 10 that God is the one who bears witness. Therefore, the Spirit is God, His Spirit. “The Spirit…the Spirit of God.” (Rom. 8:9). “The Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead … He that raised up Christ from the dead … His Spirit that dwelleth in you.” (Rom 8:11). “For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.” (Matt. 10:20). “Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father which is in heaven.” (Matt. 16:17).

God gives the marturia (evidence), evidence which comes through faith in His begotten and crucified Son. Faith awakens to the marturia (evidence) from God. Receiving the marturia evidence creates the environment in the soul by which vapid hope crystallizes into solid faith. “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Heb. 11:1). Without evidence it is impossible for the soul to have faith and believe. This is the witness of the Spirit and of God. The evidence witnessed to by our God present in our mind through His Son is that which bears witness and creates faith in us.

The witness that abides in the little children of God is the anointing that abides in them. “The anointing which ye have received of Him (Jesus) abideth in you.” (1Jn. 2:27). The witness of “the Spirit is truth” (1Jn. 5:6), because it is the “Spirit of truth” (John 14:16), likewise the anointing “is truth, and is no lie” (1Jn. 2:27).

“Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father…. These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you. But the anointing which ye have received of Him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in Him. And now, little children, abide in Him; that, when He shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before Him at His coming.” (1Jn. 2:24,26-28).

Jesus the Messiah, the Anointed One, anoints and abides in all who He justifies and begets into commandment-keeping and love. The Messiah is the anointing and the Spirit of truth. His truth makes us free.

“Grace be with you, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.” (2Jn. 1:3).

“If ye continue in My word, then are ye My disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free…. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” (John 8:31,32,36).

“And he that keepeth His commandments dwelleth in Him, and He in him. And hereby we know that He abideth in us, by the Spirit which He hath given us.” (1Jn. 3:24).

“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.… 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).

Generations of fidelity to the God of truth

Thomas Hubbard

 First Generation

        1.  Thomas¹ Hubbard^[1] birth date unknown.  Thomas died May 26, 1555 in England. 

      

       Thomas Hubbard was a gentleman residing at Horden-on-the-Hill, in Essex, England, “of good estate and great estimation,” and “zealous and religious in the true service of God.” Discovered by an informer to Bishop Bonner, he was seized, imprisoned and burned May 26, 1555.  It is believed that the story of Thomas Highbed in Fox’s Book of Martyrs, refers to him.

       Thomas Hubbard had the following children:

    +      2      i.     James² Hubbard.

            3     ii.     Richard Hubbard.  He was christened in Mendelsham, Suffolk, ENG, September 13, 1562.  The following individual is also linked to this event: Thomas Hubbard (father).

            4     iii.     Elizabeth Hubbard.  She was christened in Mendelsham, Suffolk, ENG, September 13, 1562.  The following individual is also linked to this event: Thomas Hubbard (father).

 Second Generation

       2.  James² Hubbard (Thomas ¹)^[2] birth date unknown.  James died in Mendelsham, Suffolk, ENG. 

       He married Naomi Cocke.  Naomi was the daughter of Thomas Cocke.  Naomi died in Mendelsham, Suffolk, ENG. 

       James Hubbard was a yeoman of Mendelsham, Suffolk, England, 80 miles northwest of London.  His Testament (printed in 1549) “which he hid in his bedstraw lest it should be found and burned in Queen Mary’s days,” was brought to America by his son Samuel, and is possibly in the Library of Alfred University, at Alfred Centre, NY.  He and Naomi Cocke reportedly had ten children.  Benjamin, James, Rachel, and Samuel came to America, but probably none of the others.  Six are identified in Day’s, “1000 Years of Hubbard History.”

       James Hubbard and Naomi Cocke had the following children:

            5     i.     Rachel³ Hubbard was born in England.  Rachel died in Fairfield Co, CT.  She married John Brandish in England.  John died in Fairfield Co, CT. 

                           Rachel who married John Brandish, of Ipswich, Suffolk, ENG.  They came to America in 1633, and lived in Salem, MA, Wethersfield, CT, and Fairfield, CT.  After the death of her husband, Rachel married secondly, Anthony Wilson, of Fairfield, CT. Rachel and John Brandish had four children.

                           1)  Mary, b. 1628, Ipswich, ENG.  Married Francis Purdy of Fairfield, CT

                           2)  John, b. 1633, Salem, MA.  Removed to Flushing, New Netherlands

                           3)  Bethia, b. 1637, Wethersfield, CT.  Married Timothy Knapp, of Greenwich, near Stamford, CT.

                           4)  A posthumous son born 1639, Wethersfield, CT.

            6      ii.     Benjamin Hubbard.

            7     iii.     James Hubbard.  He was christened in Mendelsham, Suffolk, ENG, August 14, 1603.  The following individuals are also linked to this event: Naomi Cocke (mother); James Hubbard (father).

            8     iv.     Sarah Hubbard was born 1598.  She married John Jackson in England.  John was born in England.  John died in England. 

                           Sarah, the eldest daughter, and her husband John Jackson, lived in Yarmouth, Norfolk, ENG. They had a son, Robert Jackson, who served four years under Oliver Cromwell.

            9     v.      Thomas Hubbard was born 1604.  He married Esther.  Esther was born in England.  Esther died in England. 

                           Thomas, the eldest son, and his wife Esther, lived in Freeman Lane, near Horsley, down in Southwark, London.

    +    10     vi.     Samuel Hubbard was born May 10, 1610.

 Third Generation

       10.  Samuel³ Hubbard (James ²)^[3] was born in Mendelsham, Suffolk, ENG May 10, 1610.  Samuel died 1689 in Newport, Newport Co, RI, at 79 years of age. 

       He married Tacy Cooper in Windsor, Hartford Co, CT, January 4, 1635/6.  Tacy was born in England February 12, 1608/9.  Tacy died circa 1697 in Newport, Newport Co, RI. 

      

       From the Genealogical Dictionary of Rhode Island and “1000 Years of Hubbard History,” we learn:

       He says of himself: “Such was the pleasure of Jehovah towards me, I was born of good parents, my mother brought me up in the fear of the Lord, in Mendelsham, in catechising me and hearing choice ministers, & c.”

       Oct 1633 - Salem, MA.  He came this month from England.

       1634 - He went to Watertown, MA, where he says he joined the church, “by giving account of my faith.”

       Oct 1635 - With a party of about one hundred, he started to march through the wilderness to the Connecticut Valley; winter coming on before they reached their destination they suffered much from exposure, and insufficient food.  Samuel Hubbard remained at Windsor during the winter where he married to Tacy Cooper by Mr. Ludlow.  Tacy Cooper had come to Dorchester, MA, 9 Jun 1634, and was one of the party.

       In 1636, shortly after their marriage, they went to Wethersfield, CT.      10 May 1639 - Springfield, MA.  He moved here at this date, in search of peace, and a church was soon gathered; he says: “I gave acct. of my faith” and that there were “five men in all...my wife soon after added.”

       To escape persecution under the harsh laws of Massachusetts they agin moved 10 May 1647 to Fairfield, CT. His stay here was short: “God having enlightened both, but mostly my wife, into his holy ordinances of baptizing only of visible believers, and being very zealous for it, she was mostly struck at and answered two terms publicly, where I was also said to be as bad as she, and sore threatened imprisonment to Hartford jail, if not to renounce it or to remove; that Scripture came into our mouths, if they persecute you in one place, flee to another; and so we did 2 day of October, 1648, we went for Rhode Island, and arrived there 12 day.  I and my wife upon manifestation of our faith were baptized by brother John Clarke, 3 day Nov 1648.”

       7 Aug 1651 - He was sent by the church to visit the brethren in prison at Boston, viz: John Clarke, Obadiah Holmes and John Crandall.

       Oct 1652 - “I and my wife had hands laid on us by brother Joseph Torrey.”

       He was admitted Freeman of Newport, RI in 1655.

       1 Oct 1657 - “Brother Obadiah Holmes and I went to the Dutch and Gravesend and to Jamaica and to Flushing and to Hamsted and to Cow Bay.”  They came home 15 Nov 1657.

       In 1664 he was chosen to be General Solicitor, in case of inability of Lawrence Turner.

       He writes:  ”My wife took up the keeping of the Lord’s holy Seventh Day Sabbath. the 10th day March, 1665.  I took it up 1 day April 1665; our daughter Ruth, 25 Oct 1666; Rachel, 15 Jan 1666; Bethiah, Feb 1666; our son Joseph Clarke, 23 Feb 1666.”

       7 Apr 1668 - “I went to Boston to public dispute with those baptised there.”

       Jul 1668 - He wrote his cousin, John Smith, of London, from Boston, where he had been to a disputation:  ”Through God’s great mercy, the Lord have given me in this wilderness, a good, diligent, careful, painful and very loving wife; we, through mercy, live comfortably, praised be God, as co- heirs together of one mind in the Lord, traveling through this wilderness to our heavenly Sion, knowing we are pilgrims as our fathers were, and good portion being content therewith.  A good house, as with us judged, 25 acres of ground fenced, and four cows which give, one young heifer and three calves, and a very good mare, a trade, a carpenter, a health to follow it, and my wife very diligent and painful, praised be God. This is my joy and crown, in humility I speak of it, for God’s Glory, I trust all, both sons in law and daughters are in visible order in general; but in especial manner my son Clarke and my three daughters, with my wife and about 14 walk in the observation of God’s holy sanctified 7 day Sabbath, with much comfort and liberty, for so we and all ever had and yet have in this Colony.”

       16 Dec 1671 - He wrote to his children at Westerly, about the differences between those favoring the seventh day observance and the rest of the church.  Several spoke on both sides.  Mr. Hubbard gave his views. Brother Torrey said they required not my faith. Other discussion followed: “They replied fiercely, it was a tumult.  J. Torrey stopped them at last.”

       With his wife, one daughter, and four other persons he formed the first Seventh Day Baptist Church in America.  He writes: “We entered into a church covenant the 23rd day of December, 1671, viz: William Hiscox, Stephen Mumford, Samuel Hubbard, Roger Baxter, sister Hubbard, sister Mumford, Rachel Langworthy,” &c.  Their church was not formed without a depature (sic) by their former associates from that spirit of toleration and “soul liberty” which Roger Williams claimed; for the members who united on Dec. 23, had been excommunicated Dec. 7, when the Rev. Obidiah Holmes preached against their doctrine of Seventh Day observance, and even declared “they had left Christ, and gone after Moses.”  There is extant a letter from Roger Williams to Samuel Hubbard, in which he argues the position taken by the latter, and cites various texts against his views; but it is written in a very different spirit from that shown by the Newport church, and recognizes the conscientious motives which actuated Hubbard. “Bro’ Hiscox and I send this Church to N. London and Westerly, 7 day Mar 1675,” and again March, 1677/8 and 1686.

Samuel Hubbard came in the flood of Puritans at the very beginning of our colonial era. Life was difficult, a wilderness with indigenous peoples who feared the new-comers’ possible takeover of their territories. In that setting Robert Burdick, the sole progenitor of all Burdicks in the United States, arrived and loved the dedication and spirituality of the young Bible believing Seventh-day Baptist Church. In that Protestant religion of truly fervent love of the scriptures Robert and Ruth raised up their children, and their children raised up another generation, and so on down into the 1900s.

Robert Burdick married Ruth Hubbard, who was the first baby born into Sabbatarian families in America. Her father, Samuel Hubbard was the first leader of the Seventh-day Baptists. Her mother, Tacey Hubbard, was the first convert to the seventh-day Sabbath in America. Ruth was a very godly and loving woman, as a letter from her attests.

They had eight children that survived, the last, Samuel being my forebear. The seventh-day Sabbath has been in my family for almost 350 years.

Robert Burdick was a very influential man, as can be seen by the large turnout of twenty families for his son’s “very great burial”.

 Robert, Deacon Robert, Robert, Captain Ichobod, Joshua, Curtis, and finally, my grandfather, Asa were all Seventh-day Baptists. But, finally we see the SDB church losing its strength of purpose and its faith in commandment-keeping. In my grandfather’s case, farming took up all his time and interest. This may have been the case of many other Seventh-day Baptists.

But, the Lord had another group who was coming up and were destined to take up the Sabbath torch, holding it up before the papal falsehoods being paraded around the world. Just as the Seventh-day Adventists began their march through the world, their boast of being the only true commandment-keepers was arrested by a Seventh-day Baptist. It was 1846 when Seventh-day Baptist Rachel Oakes stood up against the preacher at a Washington, New Hampshire Millerite Church. She told them they weren't keeping all the commandments if they were disregarding the fourth commandment. Soon the Sabbath truth became one of the central pillar doctrines of the Seventh-day Adventists. Their faction of the Millerite movement was very small compared to the whole Millerite Adventists. But, Jesus was with His seventh-day Sabbath-keepers, and He especially blessed their group, so that it would far exceed the other Millerite groups and see their demise.

My grandmother, Emily Rodrick, had accepted the Seventh-day Adventist message before marrying my Seventh-day Baptist grandfather, Asa Burdick. She remained faithful to the Lord, bringing my father up in the faith until she passed away when he was 9 years old. After that my back-sliden grandfather gave my father

no more religious up-bringing, and dad eventually forgot all about the little bit that his mother had taught him. After 20 years in the Navy and a strong yearning to know God and to understand the truths of the Bible, just as he was retiring and free from the military restrictions, a Seventh-day Adventist pastor knocked on our door one evening during the denomination's annual “Ingathering” campaign.

Dad was very interested and the pastor studied the Bible with him. In 1967 Dad was baptized into the three angels’ message. That was 50 years ago and he has brought me up in the same great last day movement to prepare the world for Jesus' return in power.

The fifth trumpet, the Third Angel’s message, and the Trinity

The fifth trumpet, the Third Angel’s message, and the Trinity

Hello Pastor Ortega. 

  A few years ago I began searching for internet videos on non-trinitarianism and initially found non-Adventist Christians arguing over Jesus as a created being. But I knew that the third person trespasser into the Godhead was where the trinity falsehood lay. I finally found Adventist non-trinitarian sites and heard what I believed I saw the Bible teaching on the Holy Spirit being Jesus, along with quotations from EGW that say that. The last I found were your videos and audio files. They have been deeper than the others, but in wonderful agreement with them. I am very happy to hear the unison voices. I still need to understand better what you are saying about the human nature of Jesus but most of what I’ve heard is what I had already deduced or heard or read. I haven’t been an extensive EGW connoisseur. Mostly, I’ve been trying to understand the Bible. 

  But the main reason I’m writing this email is that when I came back to the Lord after 13 years away from the SDA church Jesus gave me a strong love for the Bible. After studying most of it, I turned to the book of Daniel and found it much more understandable than in my teen years. Then, naturally I went on to Revelation. Revelation was going nicely until I got to the seven trumpets and decided to hunt down Uriah Smith’s book on the trumpets. But a strong impression, almost a voice, steered me away from that idea and told me to let Revelation tell me what the trumpets mean. I consented, and as I read the first four trumpets I saw in trumpet #1 the Sunday churches’ rejection of William Miller and the anointing of Adventism, (trumpet #2) the Sunday churches’ rejection of the Sabbath and their rejection of the Law’s authority to condemn sin, (trumpet #3) the entrance of spiritualism into the Sunday churches resulting from their rejection of the Law, and (trumpet #4) finally the churches’ gospel light going out. I had already seen Revelation 4 and 5 as EGW’s Great Controversy vision of 1858. The trumpets seemed to be saying exactly what EGW has told us about our history and Protestant America. At first I thought for sure I was just a biased Adventist, but the more I studied the Old Testament the clearer my interpretations became.

  I felt impressed to end the first 4 trumpets in 1849, right in the middle of the Sabbath conferences. The California Gold Rush started the fifth trumpet which would show Satan (the black smoke from the bottomless pit) and his Jesuits (the voracious locusts) taking Protestant America all the way down to total apostasy, devil-possession, and ruin in the sixth trumpet. The wormwood bitterness of spiritualism would come to the Sunday churches because they turned their ear away from hearing God’s voice of condemnation. And celebration is all they have had an appetite for ever since. The goal of the Jesuits was to completely corrupt all of Protestantism, which would prosper except for those not in the third part (the third part meaning, “those under the earth”, or the devil-controlled Protestants). With the Jesuits already reinstated and well established since 1814, with the Protestants now open to Satan’s strong delusions, and with Adventism having nailed down the message of warning against the Roman/Protestant alliance, 1850 would start a race to the finish for Christ and Satan, and for both their respective armies.

  The torment, the fire, brimstone, and smoke, which come from the fifth and sixth trumpets (and also from Deuteronomy 29:18-28) make up the language of the third angel’s message. This means that not only the Sabbath, but more so abrogating the whole Law, is what the third angel’s message is about. Also it means that worshiping “the gods” (Deut. 29:18), (the Trinity?), which is spiritualism as much as abrogating God’s authority to condemn sin is spiritualism, is part of the third angel’s message.

  I’ve written a book on the seals and trumpets of Revelation 4-11. Would you or maybe someone in your cabinet want to review my book and tell me if I have handled the word of God honestly or dishonestly? I feel like Jesus gave me the book to write, and I want it to get out because I believe it tells the truth about the historicism of the seven trumpets, which all take place after the entrance of Jesus into the Most Holy in 1844. I see Revelation 4 through 11 as chronological, except for chapter 7’s focus on the 144,000 and their central part in the closing work of the gospel, and except for chapter 11 which gives an overview of the gospel dispensation in order to show the final failing of Protestantism and Adventism after the Jesuits ascend from the bottomless pit (vs. 7). At first the beast makes war against Adventism while Ellen White was alive. It overcomes Adventism shortly after her passing. And it finally kills Adventism. (When I first wrote about Revelation 11:7 I saw a slow departure from Ellen White, but I had no idea how Trinitarianism might play into that verse. I had learned of the history of Questions on Doctrine, but I was even more amazed a month ago when I saw your presentation of the 1919 secret conference. That must have been the first fulfillment of the “overcome them” in Revelation 11:7.) Now Righteousness by faith is dead, dead in the streets of the great city Babylon; and so is Adventism dead. But, Revelation 11 doesn’t end there. An Adventist/Protestant remnant comes back to life and ascends to finally sit in heavenly places in Christ, like the apostolic church had. Then they can prophesy “again” (Rev. 10:11). Jesus’ witnesses were faithful to Him all the way through the Dark Ages. The long Revelation 11 gospel epic is a rebuke to Protestantism, and to Adventism who followed in the path of her sisters. But it ends really good in the Latter Rain because of Jesus’ sealing work in the Most Holy.

  I am also attaching a brief overview of the book, “The Seven Trumpets and the Investigative Judgment.” If you desire to read the 318 page book I will send it to you free of charge.

  Thank you for your time,

David

--------------------------------------------

On Tue, 9/5/17, Alex Ortega <_________.com> wrote:

Subject: contact

To: ___________yahoo.com  Date: Tuesday, September 5, 2017, 1:27 PM

Hi David,

Your email made it’s way to me and we

have contact. You may write to me at this address. I look

forward to hearing from you.

Blessings, 

Alex Ortega

General Conference Bulletin from December 1985

This post contains a powerful and deep subject matter. I’m not sure if Professor Prescott wrote it or Ellen White did. It comes from the Ellen White Estate CD under the Words of the Advent Pioneers. Maybe you can tell which person wrote it. Possibly Ellen White wrote it to be read and Elder Prescott gave the reading.

Deep! Very deep! What an experience this reading speaks of! I’m almost afraid we have missed the first waves of the coming Latter Rain! If this is what the Latter Rain will consist of, I hope I get up to speed quickly. I have highlighted in red some statements that show Christ and His Spirit is the Holy Spirit/Holy Ghost. If we fail to understand the truth of the Godhead, its highly possible that we could miss the fullness of the gospel yet to come. One thing I feel sure of, that is that the message from Pastor Morris Venden during the last 40 years of the past century prepared the way for the experience described below. Knowing God and knowing Jesus is the foundation for the powerful baptism of the Spirit in the true, biblically-based revival still in our future. By knowing Jesus from the scripture we can be sure of the Spirit that comes in power later. If we don’t know the Jesus in the Law and the testimony, then we will accept the many wrong spirits that claim to be the true Spirit. Jesus full of grace and truth is the Spirit of truth and Comforter that we can be sure is from God and not Satan. The Jesus from The Desire of Ages is full of truth and comfort. Now let’s see where Christ’s indwelling us takes us! So, without further adieu...

CHRIST AND THE HOLY SPIRIT

E. G. White

Reading for Friday, December 27, 1895.

CHRIST is the central thought of the gospel; for it is “the gospel of God . . . concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.” An indwelling Christ is the power and life of the gospel. “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation.” “We preach Christ crucified: . . . Christ the power of God.” “And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.” And Christ said, “Abide in me and I in you; . . . for without me ye can do nothing.” And just as he was departing from his disciples in his bodily presence, he made this promise, “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” {December 27, 1895 LTNe, GCB 631.1}

It seems very important that we should understand God’s plan for us in this idea of an indwelling Saviour, that we may be able to cooperate more intelligently with God in his plan and work, and that we may be able to realize more fully the greatness of the blessing which is bestowed upon us in the gift of Jesus Christ. {December 27, 1895 LTNe, GCB 631.2}

“I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever.” This was Christ’s word to his disciples just before he departed from the world. He was going away, but there would be another Comforter that would abide with them forever, “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.” “Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?” In the preceding verse is recorded this promise: “I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.” Not simply some power and life, not something else, but he would manifest himself unto them. Then Judas made the inquiry, “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.” “These things I have spoken unto you, being yet present with you [or abiding with you]. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”   {December 27, 1895 LTNe, GCB 631.3}

The special thought to which attention is called in this reading is the idea that an indwelling Christ is the life and power of the gospel, and the life and power of our experience in the gospel. To many minds this is simply a theoretical idea, something that is talked about; but to have Jesus Christ abiding in us and dwelling in us as our life and power, as our wisdom, as our righteousness, as our all and in all, is an experience which many do not enter into; but the Scriptures teach distinctly that our hope is in this experience. The gospel is set forth as being Christ in you, the hope of glory. Paul’s experience in the gospel was this: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” There is no success in the Christian life outside of this experience; this is the secret of piety; this is the mystery of godliness, and this experience has been made possible for us by the life and work, the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Christ’s work for us was not completed when he was here. He lived his life in the flesh, was crucified, was raised from the dead, and ascended on high, in order that he may live that same life in us; in order that the example which he set before us in his own life might become an experience in our lives. But when he went away he did not leave us, he did not give up his work for us. It was expedient that he should 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 the work which was wrought in Christ in the flesh during his earthly career, is the very work which he desires, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to work in us during our earthly career. Christ thus completely identified himself with our flesh when he was here, and thus connected himself with our humanity, that he might identify himself with each one of us, and might live in us and work in us to the glory of his name. {December 27, 1895 LTNe, GCB 631.4}

It may help us to understand this if we know something of Christ’s experience in the flesh, because he was our example, and what God wrought in him, he desires to work in us through Christ. He came, and submitted himself to God’s mind and will and working in the flesh, in order to set an example, and open the way to the possibility of the same thing in us. We do not live up to the privileges God has provided for us. We take too narrow a view of his plan concerning us. We have become so accustomed to the great power of sin, and to the conquest of sin over us, that we are not fully awake to the great power of Christ, and his conquest over sin. While we are made to realize the power of sin, we are to believe also in the power of Christ to give us the victory over sin. We should believe because of what God has done for us in Christ, and what he purposes to do for us in Christ; because the work of Christ was not simply to do something for us back there, but that he should be able to give himself to us here, and to live in us here, and to work in us here. {December 27, 1895 LTNe, GCB 631.5}

It is true that when Christ was here, he could have wrought works in his own power which we cannot do, but it is also true that he did not work his works in his own power, but became wholly an example unto us in allowing God’s power through the Spirit to rest upon him, and to work through him. {December 27, 1895 LTNe, GCB 632.1}

This is the testimony which Nicodemus bore to the work of Christ: “There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: the same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.” Christ, referring to the works which he had wrought, presents it in this way: “Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in me.” Christ’s life was simply the life of the indwelling Father, not his own; the works that he wrought were not his own works, but the works of the Father that dwelt in him. “The Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.” {December 27, 1895 LTNe, GCB 632.2}

In Peter’s talk to Cornelius and his company, he told them “how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power; who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed with the devil; for God was with him.” These are the works that he did; for God was with him. Nicodemus said, “We know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him;” and Christ himself said, “The Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.” God was with him as his indwelling life and power. How this experience was accomplished is made plain by the scripture, “For he whom God has sent speaketh the words of God; for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him.” The Spirit was not given by measure; it was the fulness of the indwelling Father. “For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell.” “For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. That is to say, God was in Christ, working in him, reconciling the world unto himself, and he dwelt in him in his fulness by giving the Spirit to him without measure. That was the Father dwelling in him, and the Father dwelling in him was the working power in him. Not that Christ had no power of himself, and could not have worked himself, but we must keep before our minds continually that Christ voluntarily took a position that his own character did not require him to take, in order to help us out of the position that we are in, where we cannot help ourselves. He consented to this experience of living wholly by the life of another, keeping his own self in abeyance, in order that another’s self might appear in him, to be an example for us, and further, in order that this experience might be possible for us. There is a wonderful mystery about the incarnation of Christ, that his experience in the flesh should be our experience in the flesh by his dwelling in us. And when he came to identify himself with flesh, and to dwell in flesh, it was not simply to dwell in flesh in Galilee, but everywhere where flesh would submit itself to his indwelling. This is why Christ identifies himself so closely with his followers, because it is he himself in his followers. This is not to be regarded as a shadowy experience, beyond our daily life. This is to be our daily life, and we are to rise above the idea that the power to live is in ourselves, and that we have to depend upon our own might. To set forth the example of Christ without the power of Christ is of little avail. God has not left us simply with Christ’s life before us as an example, but Christ came in the flesh, came to live the life of righteousness, identifying himself with human flesh, in order that he might through all time identify himself completely with his followers, and that he might live in them, to be life and power and wisdom and righteousness to them. The life that Christ lived in Judea is the life which we are to lay hold of by faith in the promises of God. {December 27, 1895 LTNe, GCB 632.3}

Now the giving of the Holy Spirit is the giving of Christ, and the presence of the Holy Spirit is the presence of Christ in us, and the power of the Holy Spirit is the power of Christ in us, and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is the indwelling of Christ in us, for the Holy Spirit is Christ’s actual representative. {December 27, 1895 LTNe, GCB 632.4}

Let us read of the promises of the giving of the Holy Spirit and their fulfillment, that we may see what it means to us. “And behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in Jerusalem until ye be endued with [or clothed with] power from on high.” “And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem and in Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth.” They were to be endued with, or clothed with, power from on high, and the promise is, “Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you.” {December 27, 1895 LTNe, GCB 632.5}

Now observe how this works out in experience, “But put ye on [or be clothed with] the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof.” Be clothed with power from on high, and be clothed with Jesus Christ, who is the power of God. Paul in writing to the Ephesians, speaks of this power. “And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places.” What power was that? “For Christ hath also once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit.” In Ephesians we read about the exceeding greatness of the power by which Christ was raised from the dead, and here we learn what that mighty power was. He was quickened by the Spirit. {December 27, 1895 LTNe, GCB 633.1}

So we read again in the Epistle to the Romans: “But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall quicken your mortal [death-doomed] bodies, by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.” That is, Christ was made alive by the power of the Spirit; we are to be made alive by the power of the Spirit; and then that same Spirit by whose power Jesus Christ was raised from the dead, and by whose power we are made alive from the dead, dwells in us with the same life-giving power. That is God dwelling in us by his own representative, the Holy Spirit. That is, the indwelling Saviour, and the measure of his mighty power, is shown by the power that raised him from the dead. {December 27, 1895 LTNe, GCB 633.2}

So Paul writes further in his Epistle to the Ephesians: “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly, above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.” What was the power that worked in Christ? - God anointed him with the Holy Ghost, and the indwelling Father by his Holy Spirit was the power that wrought in him. What is the power that is to work in us? - It is the power of the same Spirit of Christ which works in us. But Christ is the power of God, and the indwelling Spirit is the representative of God dwelling in each one of us, not simply dwelling in flesh and being among us, but dwelling in flesh by being in us. If that power dwells in us, we have the victory over our enemies, for he that is for us is more than all they that can be against us. Let us grasp the thought that Christ does dwell in our hearts by the Holy Spirit; that the Holy Spirit, the other Comforter, is with us to abide with us.   {December 27, 1895 LTNe, GCB 633.3}

Again we read: “Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” It was God who wrought in Christ by his Holy Spirit. By Christ’s work for us, he made it possible for that Spirit to be poured out on us, that God in Christ by the gift of the Holy Spirit should work in us by his own mighty power, exactly as he worked in Christ. Yet we are told that we are to work out our own salvation, because his mighty power is always with us with our consent. Not that we are to use the power. The power is to use us, but the power does not mold us contrary to our will. The power is God’s; the responsibility is ours. God continually exalts the man whom he has made in his own image, by never over-riding his will in this matter. {December 27, 1895 LTNe, GCB 633.4}

Read again in the Epistle to the Colossians: “To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. Whereunto I also labor, according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.” That is Christ in you, the hope of glory. The Holy Spirit is given to us to continue the work which Christ began when he was on earth. The Holy Spirit is the actual representative of Christ on earth, and as the actual representative of Christ, it dwells in us, and is the power of God through Christ to work out God’s plan concerning us. {December 27, 1895 LTNe, GCB 633.5}

You will see how clear this is made by further Scripture: “I am come in my Father’s name, and ye receive me not;” “I have manifested thy name to the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.” “I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it; that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.” Christ came in his Father’s name to declare his name, and being one in whom was the name of God, was the complete representative of God in the world, and his work was to represent the character of God. “Behold I send an angel before thee to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. Beware of him, and obey his voice . . . for my name is in him.” “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” {December 27, 1895 LTNe, GCB 633.6}

All that it meant to have Christ come in his Father’s name, to manifest his Father’s name as one in whom the Father’s name was, it means to have the Holy Ghost come in Christ’s name, to declare his name, to manifest his name, to represent him; and just as Christ was on the earth as the representative of the Father, so the Holy Spirit is in the earth to represent Christ. In representing Christ it is representing God, because it is God in Christ, and because it is Christ’s will to do his Father’s will continually. It is not a separate interest, but the Holy Spirit comes to represent Christ and to do continually his work, which was to represent his Father. So the work to be done now is the same as the work then, - to bring the character of God back to the earth, and to show the character of God in human flesh; and that work is to go on in us that the character of God may be represented to the world in us by his indwelling Spirit, just as it was represented in Christ Jesus. And Christ’s work of giving himself, the sacrifice of himself for us, is going forward now, and in giving us the Holy Spirit continually, he is giving himself, because he says, “I will love him and will manifest myself to him.” “Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more, but ye see me; because I live ye shall live also. In that day ye shall know that I am in the Father, and ye in me, and I in you.” That complete union by which we, and Christ, and the Father are brought into union of life is accomplished by the Spirit. The Spirit which is to be sent is the Spirit of truth, and it is the Spirit of life in Jesus Christ, and it is the Spirit of God. That is what binds God the Father and Christ his son and their followers together in one. It is more than can be done by that sort of persuasion which brings one mind into harmony with another; it is not merely agreement in sentiment, but union of life. And that union of life is by the power of the Holy Spirit. This was Christ’s prayer: “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also, which shall believe on me through their word. That they may all be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.” And that is made possible by the interflow of life between them. So Christ was in the Father, and the Father in him by this interflow of life, and his desire is, “as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us.”   {December 27, 1895 LTNe, GCB 634.1}

The testimony to the divinity of the character of Christ, to the work of Jesus Christ on earth, is in the lives of his followers. The convincing power of the Christian life is what is done for the followers of Jesus Christ, is what Christ does in his followers. That is what makes real to the world the claims of Christianity. Christ is the one who mediates between God and us. By his taking our human flesh and standing between humanity and divinity as a union of humanity and divinity, he becomes the way, the channel through which God dwells in us by his Holy Spirit. God dwells in Christ by his Holy Spirit, and Christ by taking humanity, connected humanity with divinity in himself, so that when we become connected with Christ, we become connected with a humanity in which dwells divinity. With this connection between us and Christ, that divine power can dwell in us. Christ came in the flesh in order that there might be divine power for us. When man sinned, he cut himself off from this power, but Christ’s work was to make it possible that that divine power might come again to him. {December 27, 1895 LTNe, GCB 634.2}

Do not be afraid of believing that Christ means exactly what he says, and that everything set forth in the Scriptures is for each one of us personally. It does not avail for us to see that Christ intended it for us, but it is necessary for us to grasp it as ours by living faith. When we see that it is God’s plan, we are to believe that it is so, rejoice and be glad, and give thanks that it is so, and grasp that very power and life by faith in the promises of God; and we are to submit ourselves to the power and work of God. This experience will take out of our lives all cheapness and commonness, all lightness and trifling. It will bring a new dignity into our lives, when we really believe that Jesus Christ actually lives in us and that it is his power that works in us to work out the character of God. That life means something. If we constantly look to him, then we may believe that it is God that is working in us, and so our lives may be to his glory in representing the character of Christ, and representing the character of God in Christ in the daily experience of our lives. The words which we speak will not be our own words, the works which we work will not be our own works. Jesus Christ will work in us, glorifying his own name continually. That is the work of the Holy Spirit as shown in the life of Jesus Christ. {December 27, 1895 LTNe, GCB 634.3} 

“What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God?” “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” When the Spirit of God dwells in us, we are the temple of God, because it is God dwelling in us by his Spirit. “And ye are not your own.” Our bodies are not our own with which to express our own character, but our bodies are for the Holy Spirit to use with which to work out and express God’s character. “Ye are not your own.” The body is not ours to use; it is God’s to use by the Holy Spirit. {December 27, 1895 LTNe, GCB 635.1}

“And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” God wants to dwell in us. Shall we refuse him admittance, and set up idols in his place? “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” This is the same thing which is set forth by the prophet Isaiah: “For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive [to give new life to] the spirit of the humble, and to revive [to give new life to] the heart of the contrite ones.” It is God’s eternal purpose in Jesus Christ that this should be so. {December 27, 1895 LTNe, GCB 635.2}

But let us read the scripture further: “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness.” By reading that verse carefully, it becomes evident that the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, and Christ are made identical. When the Spirit of God dwells in us, that is the Spirit of Christ, it is Christ himself in us. “But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal [death-doomed] bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.” As that Spirit gave life to Christ who was dead, so that Spirit coming upon us, will quicken us and give us new life, and raise us up to sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. “Therefore brethren [observe the conclusion], we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh ye shall die, but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.” That is to say, the Holy Spirit, Christ dwelling in us, is to be the power that overcomes these evil traits, these evil habits in us, and puts to death these deeds of the body. {December 27, 1895 LTNe, GCB 635.3}

The same thought is brought out in another scripture: “And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” God has given us his Spirit, and the power of Christ is to work in us. If we live after the flesh we shall surely die, but if we live after the Spirit, we shall put to death the deeds of the flesh; we shall live, but it is Christ living in us. {December 27, 1895 LTNe, GCB 635.4}

We are now in the time of the latter rain, and we are told to pray for the Spirit of God, for the power of the Spirit. This means the fulness of the indwelling Christ. The image of God, as shown in Jesus Christ, is to be perfected in those that are prepared for translation just before the second coming of Christ to receive his own, who bear fully his image. There must be at that time the fulness of the indwelling Christ, and Christ must be all and in all. He must be all there is in every one. There must be none of self. Is means the complete death of self, and the fulness of the indwelling Saviour. {December 27, 1895 LTNe, GCB 635.5}

We read this in another way: “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.” “The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death, light is sprung up.” “Arise, shine; for thy light is come.” Who is our light? - Christ is our light. The glory of the Lord is risen upon us in the giving of his Spirit. That makes us a light that we may shine. We cannot rise and give light unless we have light. Christ is our light, and wherever he is, the people who sit in darkness will see great light. {December 27, 1895 LTNe, GCB 635.6}

As the Spirit of Christ comes upon us in this time of the latter rain, the people will see great light, because we will have the light of the Spirit of Christ. The experience we need is the power of the indwelling Christ. The Lord is not seeking for those who are merely wealthy, talented, or educated. God is seeking for those who are willing to be instruments in his hands, to show forth the power and glory of his name. He can take each company of believers and make them a power, if they will every one submit wholly to him. God will give us a power in our assemblies; he will make even the synagogue of Satan acknowledge that God is with us. When we are willing to take the humble position that it is all of Christ and none of self, when we are fully submitted to Christ that he may work in us, then he will manifest his power, and that is what he desires to do. Shall we, who believe in the power of God, allow the enemy to triumph over us? The enemy is working to hinder God’s work, to counteract what God has accomplished. Shall we allow him to triumph over us? {December 27, 1895 LTNe, GCB 635.7}

Jesus Christ is not dead. He is a living Saviour, and he desires to be an indwelling Saviour in every one of us, to show forth the praises and the glory of his name. God wants us to advance in the truth, that every one may see that there is something to this message besides simply a difference in theory; that it is the power of God that is working in truth; that this people are not simply a people who have a different theory, but that they are the people of God. That is what will win souls to the truth. Many people can see that the seventh day is the Sabbath, but there must be the power of God to win them to the truth. What we need is that same power, or we shall give up the truth. There is nothing but the power of God always working out the truth in us which is able to keep us. Having merely stepped out to obey the truth does not keep us in the love of God. Past experience will never answer for the present. We must continue day by day to have the experience of the power of God with us. That is the only thing which will keep us, but the power of Christ can do this, and that is the blessedness of the gospel. Let Jesus come into our hearts, by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, taking complete control, bringing every thought into captivity, and then we shall glorify him continually.

W. W. PRESCOTT. {December 27, 1895 LTNe, GCB 636.1}