“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).
When Jesus was glorified, Pentecost happened. Through
His Father’s eternal Spirit, Jesus had conquered the prince of this world. His
Father divided the glorious victory with HIS only begotten Son, who shared the rewards of His victory
with all who would take hold of His strength and ally themselves with Him.
“Thou hast ascended on high, Thou hast led captivity
captive: Thou hast received gifts for men.” (Ps. 68:18). “Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth.” (Matt. 28:18). From His Father the
Lord received the gifts of the Spirit, especially the gift of adoption.
“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 at Pentecost, 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 against Satan in the great controversy. The
Son would continue to war against the tenacious enemy who would rise again from
the bottomless pit into which Christ had cast him. Michael, through His Spirit
in everyone who found Him to be a Prince and Savior, Messiah the Prince, would
win in the end when His Father would put all enemies under His feet.
We are made to drink of one Spirit, which is Jesus’
and which flows from His Father through 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 what the
whole world calls 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 omega of that 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 by means 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). Here Paul said that the Spirit is the Lord’s Spirit, “the
Spirit of the Lord”, “the Spirit of Christ”, “the Spirit of [God’s] 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 Christianity’s Spirit
is another divine Being besides the Father and Son. They believe in the Holy
Spirit as another person, “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 has made desolate every other multitude, nation, tongue, and people?
Shouldn’t that make us suspicious of this spirit third person? The fear of the Lord should
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 because he knows his time to live and deceive is getting shorter? Very subtly, more than all the other
beasts of paradise he infiltrated himself into the church of Christ through
ancient Babylonian, Persian, and Greek philosophies; and in the end, his doctrines will 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).
“Therefore” infers that the second
statement was the emphasized, concluding disclosure of the less clear first
statement. When Jesus spoke those words, wasn’t He equating “the Spirit of
truth” to “the Father”? Jesus speaks of the Spirit in verse 14 and He then in
the same breath, and regarding the accomplishment of the same work, speaks of
the Father in the next verse. Jesus is
treating His Father and the Spirit as one and the same. 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 exact same function,
then wasn’t He simply reiterating His explanation of the method of His
revelation to the world and equating the Spirit of truth to His Father, for the
sakes of the slow-hearted men? He had difficulty explaining the things of God
to them. He had just said, “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye
cannot bear them now.” (John 16:12). His disciples must suffer the great
disappointment of the cross; then they must experience the magnified, restored
joy of seeing Him again and watching Him ascend; and finally, they must follow
through all of that 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 order to reveal Him to the world, in the Revelation we see
Christ taking from His Father in order to reveal His Father’s character to the
world in the light of Satan’s future attack upon Him and His children. Christ
receives 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 to the
church. “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
is the Holy Ghost in this delegation of communication? The Holy Ghost must be
involved. John wrote that he communicated everything he saw and heard. “…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 Revelation visions was the word of God and the Testimony of Jesus
which is the Spirit of prophecy. Just as for 70 years John had been testifying
of Jesus and His redemption, through that same Testimony of the glorified Son
of God the apostle testified of everything that he saw in the prophecy, which
had come from God’s mouth. The same Spirit, which for years had constrained
John to testify of Christ, 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 Jesus,
through Isaiah, said that “His Spirit” was His “mouth” (Isa. 34:16)—His
testimony, the Testimony of Jesus, the Word of life who was with God. “It” that
testified wasn’t the words of the prophets’ mouths, but Christ’s control of
their mouths through His Spirit upon their minds. Peter later wrote that that “Spirit
of Christ which was in [the prophets]” (1Pet. 1:11) was the same “Holy Ghost”
moving the same “holy men of God” (2Pet. 1:21). So, we see that the Holy Ghost, or
the Holy Spirit, is the Spirit of Christ, the thought of Christ, the mouth and voice
of Christ in their minds. “The Spirit of Christ”, in a lesser way, is the Word made flesh
again and again through the prophets. The Spirit is the thought of Him who is
God’s thought, made humanly audible in the prophet, who makes it understandable
to the people, “the rebellious” (Ps. 68:18).
The Spirit “itself” who helps “our infirmities” (Rom.
8:26), does the same work of intercession as our High Priest (Heb. 4:15; 7:25),
who lives to make intercession for us, and the Lamb out of whose eyes and mind
goes “the seven Spirits of God…into all the earth” (Rev. 5:6). The Spirit is
the power of the Highest, the omnipotent Most High God through HIS Son, “the
Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father” (Rom. 8:15) “that we might
receive the adoption of sons.” (Gal. 4:5) “Wherefore thou art no more a
servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.” (Gal.
4:7). “And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of HIS Son into
your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.” (Gal. 4:6). Because we thus are “of God”
(1Jn. 4:4), we are HIS children, we are HIS “little ones” (Matt. 18:6); and “greater is HE [God] that is
in [us], than he that is in the world.” (1Jn. 4:4). HIS 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), reborn with a newly
created spirit after the image of HIS Spirit. Years later, after “full age” (Heb. 5:14), then “the
spirit of truth” (1Jn. 4:6) (the Spirit/Spirit of God through Christ/Holy
Ghost) testifies with a greater measure in 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). If they have continued in His word, then they have become His disciples
indeed. They have the Testimony of Jesus and can discern between good and evil,
the true from the the false.
The written words were the truth, whether it was for
the apostles and Christians of the New Testament or for the prophets and Israelites 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 repeated and enhanced the written 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 the
Spirit of Christ by its loyalty to “the testimony of the Bible…those
plain, soul-testing truths which require self-denial and renunciation of the
world.” Great Controversy, p. 464. “It
is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I
speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” (John 6:63).
“Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that
confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: and every spirit
that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and
this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come;
and even now already is it in the world.” (1Jn. 4:2,3).
What spirit confesses Christ? What Spirit bears
witness of Christ in us and then from us to others? Is it a third person of the
trinity?
Many Trinitarians rely on a highly suspect scripture,
1 John 5:7 and 8. Verse 7 has for centuries been known as “the Comma Johanneum”,
or “the short clause of John”. If this text were authentic, it would have been
the most concise and the clearest evidence of a Trinity doctrine in the Bible. But, Bible
historians agree that none of the church leaders who defended the Trinity
doctrine during the period of Arias’ attack on it ever utilized 1 John 5:7. That makes it apparent that the addition did not exist from the days of John until their day. Theologians
generally agree that Cyprian (c. 200-258) made the Comma a marginal note that
at some point began to be completely inserted into this verse as the inspired
thought of John. Pro-Trinity theologians see this as innocent; but,
anti-Trinitarian theologians see it as an agenda to steer the world away from
the truth about the Godhead. The passage in question, 1 John 5:7,8 (KJV), with
the inauthentic Comma in bold font, reads:
7. For there are three that bear record in heaven,
the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost:
and these there are one.
8. And there are three that bear witness in earth,
the spirit, and the water, and the blood:
and these three agree in one.
In the context of 1 Jn. 5:1-13 we then read:
“1Jn 5:1
Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every
one that loveth HIM that begat loveth Him also that is begotten of HIM.
1Jn 5:2 By this
we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep HIS commandments.
1Jn 5:3 For
this is the love of God, that we keep HIS commandments: and HIS commandments are not grievous.
1Jn 5:4 For
whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh
the world, even our faith.
1Jn 5:5 Who is
he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of
God?
1Jn 5:6 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 witness [G3140, martureō], because the SPIRIT is truth.
1Jn 5:7,8 For there are three that bear record [bear
witness, G3140], the spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three
agree in one.
1Jn 5:9 If we
receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the
witness [G3141, marturia, from “evidence”]
of God which HE hath testified of HIS Son.
1Jn 5:10 He
that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness [G3141, marturia] in himself: he that believeth not God hath made HIM a liar;
because he believeth not the record [G3141, marturia]
that God gave of HIS Son.
1Jn 5:11 And
this is the record [G3141, marturia],
that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in HIS Son.
1Jn 5:12 He
that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.
1Jn 5:13 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.
At the beginning of this section of scripture, the
context shows that the main focus is on obedience to the Law of God and faith
in Jesus. We see that beholding the faith of Jesus, which gave Him infinite
determination to please His Father, gives us faith in Jesus, which causes our
obedience of the Law of God and thus victory over this world of sin. Then we
see John describe the means by which we can have the faith in Jesus—the “Spirit”
(1Jn. 5:6), or the “spirit” (1Jn. 5:8).
(I am having difficulty copying the early Greek manuscript that does not contain 1 John 5:7. But, please go to the Wikipedia website below to see it. Underneath it is the following:) “Excerpt from Codex Sinaiticus including 1 John 5:7–9. It lacks the Comma Johanneum.
The purple-coloured text says: ‘There are three witness bearers, the Spirit and
the water and the blood’.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comma_Johanneum#).
The early Koine Greek manuscripts made no use of our
modern first letter capitalizations. Notice in the ancient Greek of above photo
that all letters were capitalized. The words, “Spirit”
and “spirit”, are not written such that the original writers distinguished a
divine subject from a human subject. It was the Reformation translators who
made that distinction, capitalizing one pneuma
(Spirit) to indicate a divine source and not capitalizing the other pneuma (spirit) to indicate a human
source. Distinguishing Spirit from spirit wasn’t wrong because the translators were
trying to alleviate confusion in the Bible readers by making this distinction
and, in the case of King James, to dispose of the religious conflict in his
kingdom. But the translators’ inserted bias in favor of a Trinity has misled
most of the Christian world to retain the erroneous and deeply entrenched
paradigm of the Spirit as a third person, rather than teaching what 1
Corinthians 2:11 called the Spirit: the mind and manifestation of God, which HE reveals to us
through the Spirit HE gave HIS glorified Son. Paul also called it the “communion” (2
Cor. 13:14) which the Father and Son have between Themselves, a communion which
They desire to have again with Adam’s race, as we read from Jesus in the book
of John 17:1-6, 21-26.
Chapter 5 of John’s first letter is really not
expounding a trinity at all, but rather he expounds the results of receiving
the Son by faith, in order to keep the commandments of God, by conquering the
power of Satan through the power of God that comes with serving Jesus. The
spirit is involved in that victory—that is, the greater power of God upon the
soul who has opened his heart to the appeals of Christ through His echoing and
re-echoing life and words. His words quicken in us a new spirit, a new nature;
and the flesh is put to death. During His earthly ministry, at least for
everyone who watched Jesus, the sight of Him (see John 6:40) and the
comprehension of His words were a constant crucifixion to the fallen
self-centered nature—it was a marturea—God’s
martyrdom of our self. Not only was God in Christ when He nailed HIS Son to the
cross, but, God was announcing to the world what HE would do to every son whom HE received. By
the scourging of that crucifixion of self, Satan and all the things of men
which he savours, are thrust out of the soul. “But if I cast out devils by the
Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you. Or else how can one
enter into a strong man’s house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the
strong man? and then he will spoil his house.” (Matt. 12:28,29).
By the witness of God’s SPIRIT, our marturea by the pneuma,
the strong man of sin is bound down. Self goes into rigor mortis; the sinful
power in our members is held in state. This is the condition of being “in the
Spirit.” (Rev. 1:10). Christ’s crucifixion of our self, losing “our” life, is
what John was saying the Spirit was. And, if Protestantism is being corrupted,
and if the whole world is currently following after the Beast, how many within
Christianity today can really comprehend the truth of the Spirit? Yet, most
talk of the Spirit as if they know It. But, if victory over lusts and perverted
appetites is not being experienced in today’s Protestant America, and substances
are used by everyone to quell God’s chastisement of their peace, how can they
trust that what they believe they have as the SPIRIT of God is not really a
familiar spirit from Satan? How many today really experience what the apostles
had in the way of the SPIRIT of God? And therefore, how many hold to a sound
doctrine of the Godhead? I believe that very few do.
“How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer
therein?
Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into
Jesus Christ were baptized into His death?
Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into
death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the
Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
For if we have been planted together in the likeness
of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection:
Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him,
that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve
sin.
For he that is dead is freed from sin.” (Rom. 6:2-7).
When we see and hear Jesus, our Friend who humbles us
and delivers us from our hated, destructive sinful self; when we hear Jesus say,
“I don’t condemn you; go and sin no more”, then the flesh dies, and then only
can sin be dead. Seeing His love for the human race conquers our
self-destructive nature. Sin is dead in us only in the context of our faith in
Christ’s all-consuming love for sinful man. Then as long as the old nature is
dead, our will has power over sin. Faith was the victory. But, God must crucify
our self before we can stop sinning. “Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered
for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that
hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin.” (1Pet. 4:1). “For the weapons
of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of
strong holds.” (2Cor. 10:4). Then comes the blessing. “Blessed are the
peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God” (Matt. 5:9); and, as
their Peacemaker with God Jesus was blessed by multitudes and called the Child
of God.
But, before the Messiah the Prince can intercede for
our peace, He must wage war with us. “Though He was the Prince of Peace, His
coming must be as the unsheathing of a sword.” Desire of Ages, p. 111. “I am come to send fire on the earth; and
what will I, if it be already kindled?...Suppose ye that I am come to give
peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division.” (Luke 12:49,51). Before
He can be our Comforter, He must wield His Father’s SPIRIT of truth.
“Comfort ye, comfort ye My people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to
Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her
iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD’S hand
double for all her sins.” (Isa. 40:1,2). When it comes to the safety of His
children from the abductor, Jesus is as violent as a she-bear. He unsheathed
His sword against Satan when He announced His ministry at baptism. His Father
dubbed Him HIS Knight in holy armor. His
gift to all mankind is the same power that His Father put upon Him—His Father’s
SPIRIT
without measure.
Before our Father can give us that victory, we must
see the unbroken dedication of Jesus to His Father’s commandments and His same
dedication to regain His children’s trust. It was the Father’s will that
HIS Son win our hearts
back to HIM and to HIS Law. We must see the Son’s
manifestation of His Father; and our conscience must be stricken at Christ’s representation
of the Father’s love, which has forever been higher than heaven and deeper than
hell. We must see that They have both loved us with an everlasting love; and
that with lovingkindness They have drawn us to Them. And the knowledge of that
kind of love must birth us into a new person with a new spirit of our own.
Christ’s manifestation of God to the soul is the Spirit, our spirit with His,
and His Spirit united with ours. He takes up residence in us and we in Him, His
Spirit communing with our spirit, as He said He would (John 14:17,18,21;
15:4,5, cf 2Cor. 13:14). His love and acceptance gives us confidence; His
Spirit imbues our spirit with strength to be strong like Him, and holy as He is
holy. The righteousness of His Spirit makes us righteous. Without any force
except the constraints that come out of love, “JESUS…shall save His people from
their sins.” (Matt. 1:21). “Christ is ever showing mercy, ever seeking to win
by the revealing of His love. He can admit no rival in the soul, nor accept of
partial service; but He desires only voluntary service, the willing surrender
of the heart under the constraint of love.” Desire
of Ages, p. 487.
“And ye know that He was manifested to take away our
sins; and in Him is no sin. Whosoever abideth in Him sinneth not: whosoever
sinneth hath not seen Him, neither known Him. Little children, let no man
deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as He is righteous.
He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the
beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might
destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin;
for HIS seed remaineth
in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.” (1Jn. 3:5-9).
The Spirit of Christ causes no fanaticism, as with
some who believed they were sinless. But rather, faith in Christ’s love humbles
His children and empowers them to assume all blame for every problem. His
Spirit of love gives us health-giving, life-giving peace and self-sacrificing
love. “A life in Christ is a life of restfulness. There may be no ecstasy of
feeling, but there should be an abiding, peaceful trust.” Steps to Christ, p. 70.
“If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God
is greater: for the witness of God is this, that HE hath borne witness concerning HIS Son.” (1Jn.
5:9 RV). “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. 5:20). “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 Father reveals HIS Son, so that
HIS
Son can reveal HIM. The Son gives us understanding to know His Father;
He bears witness of His Father so that knowing His Father, and being reconciled
to HIS
Spirit, we can have eternal life.
“At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank THEE, O Father,
Lord of heaven and earth, because THOU hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and
hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in THY sight. All
things are delivered unto Me of My Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the
Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever
the Son will reveal HIM.” (Matt. 11:25-27). “No man hath seen God at any
time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath
declared HIM.” (John. 1:18).
The Spirit of truth, the Spirit that is truth and that
“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 isn’t 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, upon all who procrastinate until the very end, all of
His righteous judgments come at one time. “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). They wouldn’t take Him seriously and fear His
warnings against false worship. They wouldn’t let go of the idols that warred
against His Spirit. They chose communion with lawless, indulgent familiar
spirits through Spiritual Formation, rather than to communion with His Spirit
of truth and holiness. Through “communications from the spirits” Great Controversy, p. 590, Satan
whispered in their minds, “Its Ok to live as you please and to disobey those
harsh, unbearable requirements of the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy.” They bowed
before Satan’s manipulating control, which he used to influence the human race
to rebel against their Father in heaven and HIS loving righteousness.
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; and it is only THEM. 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 it 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 with 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 to us 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, all of THEIR children 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 children of God’s SPIRIT, the empowered sons 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).
“I am one that bear witnessG3140 of Myself, and the Father that sent Me beareth witnessG3140 of Me.” (John 8:18). “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love HIM. But God hath revealed them unto us by HIS Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the SPIRIT of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the SPIRIT which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.” (1Cor. 2:9-12). Jesus came, but no one knew Him except for the Father and no one knew the Father except Jesus. They revealed each other; THEIR SPIRIT bore witness to each other. There is a wonderful reciprocation within the SPIRIT of the Godhead.
