Made to drink in one Spirit

“In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink. He that believeth on Me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)” (John 7:37-39).

 

“Therefore will I divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong; because He hath poured out His soul unto death: and He was numbered with the transgressors; and He bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.” (Isa. 53:12). When God glorified HIS Son, then He divided HIS Son’s inheritance—“the Spirit of HIS Son” (Gal. 4:6)—with all who received Him. Those throughout the Christian age who trusted in His Son were the strong. They received power to become the sons of God, and with them the Father divided the spoils of HIS warfare with Satan in the great controversy.

 

We are made to drink of one Spirit, which is Jesus’ and which flows from Him. “And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb…. And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” (Rev. 22:1,17).

 
“He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself.” (1 Jn. 5:10).

We want the witness of the Spirit. So do many millions. It gives evidence that God is with us; it gives certainty of salvation. Hinduism, Buddhism, the other religions of the non-Christian world, along with Catholicism and Evangelical Protestantism, all strive to have this witness of the Spirit. “In those churches which [Satan] can bring under his deceptive power he will make it appear that God's special blessing is poured out; there will be manifest what is thought to be great religious interest. Multitudes will exult that God is working marvelously for them, when the work is that of another spirit. Under a religious guise, Satan will seek to extend his influence over the Christian world.” Great Controversy, p. 464. The witness of the Spirit is what constituted the showdown on Mount Carmel. Both Elijah and the prophets of Baal claimed to have the witness of the Spirit; however, the false prophets had a witness from the wrong spirit; they had a familiar spirit. “Through spiritualism, Satan appears as a benefactor of the race, healing the diseases of the people, and professing to present a new and more exalted system of religious faith.” Great Controversy, p. 589. Worship of and praying to “the Spirit”, which has swept the denominations, is but the development of a delusion that began in the ancient apostatizing apostolic church. The full product of the delusion is yet to be seen. Elijah had the true Spirit of the Lord because he stood before Him. He said, “As the LORD God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand…” (1Ki. 17:1). Jesus told Jeremiah, “Therefore thus saith the LORD, If thou return, then will I bring thee again, and thou shalt stand before Me….” (Jer. 15:19). And to Abraham, “I am the Almighty God; walk before Me, and be thou perfect.” (Gen. 17:1).

In all three cases, the Spirit of the Lord came to them from the Lord because of their standing before the Lord. “Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” (2Cor. 3:17). The Spirit was the Lord’s Spirit, “the Spirit of Christ”, “the Spirit of HIS Son” (Rom. 8:9;Gal. 4:6). But, the whole world wandering after the Beast, which includes Christianity and Islam, and which soon will include the African and Asian religions, all have been sold on the misconception that the Spirit is another divine being besides the Father and Son; the Holy Spirit, “whom all Asia and the world worshippeth.” (Acts 19:27). Should we follow the customs of the world? Shouldn’t the close similarities between Christianity’s trinity and the trinities of the rest of the world cause every thinking Christian to question this pagan abomination that maketh desolate? Shouldn’t we question this Spirit third person? Shouldn’t the fear of the Lord cause us to fear every practice and doctrine that the heathen religions have? Are we really examining ourselves to see if we are doing like the rest of the world, knowing that Satan is ferocious and very subtle, more than all the other beasts of paradise to infiltrate himself into the church of Christ through doctrine? In the end, his doctrines bite like an adder and devour like a lion.

 

Jesus said, “The Spirit of truth…shall glorify me: for he shall receiveG2983 of mine, and shall shew it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall takeG2983 of mine, and shall shew it unto you” (John 16:13-15). When Jesus said that, wasn’t He equating “the Spirit of truth” to “the Father”? Jesus speaks of the Spirit in verse 14 and then in the same breath, and regarding the accomplishment of the same work, speaks of the Father in the next verse. Both Father and Spirit take (G2983, lambanō) of what is Christ’s and both show it to His disciples. If Jesus taught His disciples that both the Spirit of truth and the Father would perform the same function, then wasn’t He simply reiterating Himself and equating the Spirit of truth to the Father, for the sakes of the slow-hearted men? He had difficulty explaining the things of God to them. In the same context, He said, “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.” (John 16:12). They must suffer the great disappointment of the cross; then they must experience their magnified, restored joy of seeing Him again and watching Him ascend; and finally, they must follow through with repentance and receive a transformation of the heart. Then they would have minds cleared of all prejudices that were placed in them by Satan and his religious system. Simultaneously, Christ would minister for them before His Father, leading them to full repentance and justification before God. Then, the Father could send HIS SPIRIT of truth to teach them in a moment what it would have taken Christ a lifetime to teach while walking with them on earth without the great tests that came with His humiliation and death.

 

Unlike John 16 where we hear that the Father takes from Christ, in the Revelation we see Christ taking from His Father. And then we see Christ giving the things of God to His angel, His angel showing them to John, and John disseminating them. “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto Him, to shew unto His servants things which must shortly come to pass; and He sent and signified it by His angel unto His servant John: who bare record….” (Rev. 1:1,2). Where in this delegation of communication is the Holy Ghost? It must be there. John wrote that he communicated everything he saw. “Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.” (Rev. 1:2). In Revelation 1:2, we hear John inferring that what he saw in the prophecy was the word of God and the Testimony of Jesus, which is the Spirit of prophecy. Just as for 70 years he had been testifying of Jesus and His redemption, John testified of everything that he saw in the prophecy through the same Testimony of the glorified Son of God, which had come from God’s mouth. The same Spirit, which had constrained him to testify of Christ for years, was now upon him in a greater measure.

So, let’s look at the Testimony of Jesus which is the Spirit of Prophecy. Who is the Holy Spirit/the Comforter/the Spirit of truth/the Spirit of prophecy? Or, what is it? “Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who 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.” (1Pet. 1:10,11). “It” that “testified” (vs. 11) is the “Spirit of Christ which was in them” (vs. 11), just as the Lord, through Isaiah, said that “His Spirit” is “My mouth” (Isa. 34:16). “It” that testified wasn’t the words of the prophets’ mouths, but Christ’s control of their mouths through His Spirit upon them. Peter later wrote that that “Spirit of Christ which was in them” (1Pet. 1:11) was the same “Holy Ghost” moving the “holy men of God” (2Pet. 1:21). So, we see that the Holy Ghost, or the Holy Spirit, is the thought of Christ, the mouth of Christ, the voice of Christ, His Spirit made humanly audible and understandable.

 

The Spirit “itself” who helps “our infirmities” (Rom. 8:26), does the same work as our High Priest (Heb. 4:15; 7:25), who lives to make intercession for us, and out of whose eyes goes “the seven Spirits of God…into all the earth” (Rev. 5:6). The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God after we are born again by “the Spirit of HIS Son” (Gal. 4:6, cf Rom. 8:16). Then, after we are reborn with a newly created spirit, it (the Spirit/Spirit of Christ/Holy Ghost) testifies in a greater measure to those who for long time have been testifying of Jesus and His redemption. “For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end” (Heb. 3:14), whether it was the Christians of the New Testament or the prophets of the Old. “Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.” (1Pet. 1:12). The Spirit of Christ is the Testimony of Jesus that gave the word of God to John; it is the Holy Ghost, “the power of the Highest” (Luke 1:35). The Holy Ghost, the Spirit of Christ, is a special dispensation of “that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as He will.” (1Cor. 12:11). We can know it by its loyalty to the high standard of God, or “the testimony of the Bible…those plain, soul-testing truths which require self-denial and renunciation of the world.” Great Controversy, p. 464.

 

And who reveals Christ to us?

 

“I am one that bear witnessG3140 of Myself, and the Father that sent Me beareth witnessG3140 of Me.” (John 8:18). “This is He that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witnessG3140, because the Spirit is truth…. And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know HIM that is true, and we are in HIM that is true, even in HIS Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.” (1Jn. 5:6,20). “And this is life eternal, that they might know THEE the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom THOU hast sent.” (John 17:3).

 

The Spirit of truth, the Spirit that is truth and “beareth witness”, is God’s Spirit, “HIM that is true”, “the only true God”, “God, that cannot lie”. (1Jn. 5:20; John 17:3; Tit. 1:2). “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship HIM. God is a Spirit: and they that worship HIM must worship HIM in spirit and in truth.” (John 4:23,24). The admonition is not to worship the Spirit. We are to worship God who is holy; and we are to worship HIM from the same nature that HE is—in a holy spirit, in union with HIS holy SPIRIT. “Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, Ye shall be holy: for I the LORD your God am holy.” (Lev. 19:2).“But they rebelled, and vexed His holy Spirit: therefore He was turned to be their enemy, and He fought against them.” (Isa. 63:10).

 

Jesus is equally the truth, the faithful and true witness, as His Father is. “The straight testimony of the true witness” (Early Writings, p. 270), is the Spirit of truth. “And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witnessG3144, the beginning of the creation of God.” (Rev. 3:14). “And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and He that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He doth judge and make war.” (Rev. 19:11). “Faithful is He that calleth you.” (1Thess. 5:24). His witness is righteous warfare and fair judgments, “who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man’s work.” (1Pet. 1:17). But, to all who procrastinate until the very end, all of His righteous judgments come at once. “Out of His mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it He should smite the nations: and He shall rule them with a rod of iron: and He treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.” (Rev. 19:15).

 

Does the Spirit bear witness of Christ? Or, does the Father? Or, does Christ bear witness of Himself as He says He does in John 8:18? It is God and His Son both who testify; together, THEY are the Spirit. And when we unite with the Father and Son, we come under THEIR influence and possess what THEY possess—the Spirit.

 

“The Spirit of truth…shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.” (John 16:13-15). “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testifyG3140 of me: and ye also shall bear witnessG3140, because ye have been with me from the beginning.” (John 15:26,27).

 

“He”, “the Spirit of truth shall receive of Mine. All things…the Father hath are Mine: therefore said I, that He shall take of Mine….” The Father is the SPIRIT. He will take of HIS glory and give is to us, as HE did to HIS Son at His baptism. “The Father Himself will answer the petition of His Son. Direct from the throne issue the beams of His glory. The heavens are opened, and upon the Saviour’s head descends a dovelike form of purest light,—fit emblem of Him, the meek and lowly One.” Desire of Ages, p. 112.

 

As HE sent to HIS Son’ s baptism, not a third person of a trinity, but some of HIS own glory resembling the purest dove, so the Father sends to HIS children not a third person, but HIS own SPIRIT through HIS atoning Son. And HIS Son has His own Spirit. And all His children are remade in THEIR image and they have their own spirit of Christ, a new spirit from Christ’s mediation (see Romans 8:9;Eze. 36:26,27). Together, the sinner is saved, by THEIR grace through his faith gifted from Jesus, “the faith of Jesus Christ” (Gal. 2:16;Eph. 2:8); THEIR Spirit (the Father through HIS Son) reaches down as the sinner’s spirit reaches up (through the Son) and lays hold on eternal life.

“Let him take hold of My strength, that he may make peace with Me; and he shall make peace with Me.” (Isa. 27:5). Divinity and mortal man meet “in the Spirit.” (Rev. 1:10). The newborn has become a living soul; he is a quickened spirit. “What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith He, shall be one flesh. But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.” (1Cor. 6:16,17). Therefore, we can say that  THEIR SPIRIT (the Father’s and His Son’s) united with our spirit (the Son’s with ours) is one Spirit. THEIR SPIRIT and our spirit is one Spirit. SPIRIT+Spirit+spirit = the Spirit. “Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love Me, he will keep My words: and My Father will love him, and WE will come unto him, and make OUR abode with him.” (John 14:23). The Father and Son are inseparable, and appear as one Spirit. When we are reconciled with THEM, we join THEIR inseparable Spirit. “That they all may 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.” (John 17:21). “And 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.” (John 17:26).

 

And in the Spirit of God and of His only begotten Son, we all have perfect fellowship and unity.

 

“And the glory which THOU gavest Me I have given them; that they may be one, even as We are one.” (John 17:22).

“For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.” (1Cor. 12:12,13).

 

“Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink.” (John 7:37). Those who receive the Prince and Saviour receive His water of life on the inside and the outside; they are washed and “clean every wit” (John 13:10) and united in one Spirit.

 

“But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.

For He is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;
Having abolished in His flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in Himself of twain one new man, so making peace;
And that He might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:
And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.
For through Him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.
Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God.” (Eph. 2:13-18).

The church has perfect unity because they all drink of the same Source, Jesus and His Spirit.

 

“With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;

Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;
One Lord, one faith, one baptism,
One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” (Eph. 4:2-6).

The people of God can take an unlimited amount of calumny.

 

“The miracle-working power manifested through spiritualism will exert its influence against those who choose to obey God rather than men. Communications from the spirits will declare that God has sent them to convince the rejecters of Sunday of their error, affirming that the laws of the land should be obeyed as the law of God. They will lament the great wickedness in the world and second the testimony of religious teachers that the degraded state of morals is caused by the desecration of Sunday. Great will be the indignation excited against all who refuse to accept their testimony.” Great Controversy, p. 590.

 

“And then the great deceiver will persuade men that those who serve God are causing these evils. The class that have provoked the displeasure of Heaven will charge all their troubles upon those whose obedience to God's commandments is a perpetual reproof to transgressors. It will be declared that men are offending God by the violation of the Sunday sabbath; that this sin has brought calamities which will not cease until Sunday observance shall be strictly enforced; and that those who present the claims of the fourth commandment, thus destroying reverence for Sunday, are troublers of the people, preventing their restoration to divine favor and temporal prosperity. Thus the accusation urged of old against the servant of God will be repeated and upon grounds equally well established: "And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel? And he answered, I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father's house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and thou hast followed Baalim." 1 Kings 18:17, 18.” Ibid.

 

The unity of God’s people gives them a strength that terrifies the enemy of souls.

 

“Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;

And in nothing terrified by your adversaries: which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God.
For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for His sake;
Having the same conflict which ye saw in me, and now hear to be in me.
If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies,
Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.
Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.” (Phil. 1:27-2:3).