“If the ministration of death,
written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel
could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance;
which glory was to be done away: how shall not the ministration of the spirit
be rather glorious?” (2Cor. 3:7,8).
I’ve been thinking of an idea for a
while now. That is, What is “the Spirit”? It’s true that we will never fully
understand the Spirit of God. We can’t even understand the human spirit/mind,
how can we begin to grasp the mind of our Creator? But, we can know the
identity of the Spirit; we can nail down who the Spirit is. “The
Lord is that Spirit.” (2Cor.
3:17, cf vs. 14). But, we’ve also seen that the Lord has the Spirit—“…where the
Spirit of the Lord is….” (Ibid.). Also, we can join in “that Spirit”. “He that
is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.” (1Cor. 6:17).
“The Spirit Itself beareth witness with our
spirit, that we are the children of God…. Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our
infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the
Spirit Itself maketh
intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” (Rom. 8:16,26).
“It is by the Spirit that God works
upon the heart; when men willfully reject the Spirit, and declare It to be from Satan, they cut off
the channel by which God can communicate with them.” Desire of Ages, p.
321.
Here’s how we join in It; here’s how we join in “that” 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).
Similar to this statement was
another from the same context:
“If ye love Me, keep My
commandments.
And I will pray the Father, and He
shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever;
Even the Spirit of truth; whom the
world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him: but ye
know Him; for He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
I will not leave you comfortless: I
will come to you.
Yet a little while, and the world
seeth Me no more; but ye see Me: because I live, ye shall live also.
At that day ye shall know that I am
in My Father, and ye in Me, and I in you.” (John 14:15-20).
The third time Jesus reiterates:
“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.” (John 14:21).
All three statements from Jesus
were reiterations of each other and expansions upon each other. And all three
answer the question of the other Judas. “Judas saith unto Him, not Iscariot,
Lord, how is it that Thou wilt manifest Thyself unto us, and not unto the
world?” (John 14:22).
How would THE UNKNOWN GOD and His
only Begotten Son manifest Themselves to us? By the Law, the immutable Law of
God and the word of God, by conviction of sin.
Before Christ can bring us peace He
must unsheathe a sword—the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And
Jesus is the word of God. He is the communication from His Father, the
Schoolmaster. As our Principal, the Father holds us under the condemnation of
His Law. And when we finally stop squirming and resisting the claims of His
Law, then He brings us to Christ to see the great cost our redemption caused
the Godhead. With faith in Christ’s mercy heard and seen at the cross we repent
and are instantly justified by the grace of God.
Faith in the Law through Christ—the
testimony of Jesus for conviction of sin—is the mechanism that connects us to
the Father through His approved Mediator. That connection is Their connection
with each other. The Father and Son are the Godhead, and Ellen White loved the
phrase, “counsel of peace”, especially
as it pertained among the Godhead. She wrote as though the Holy
Spirit was the counsel of peace between Them. “Even He shall build the
temple of the LORD; and He shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon
His throne; and He shall be a Priest upon His throne: and the counsel of peace
shall be between Them both.” (Zech. 6:13).
“The great plan of redemption was
laid before the foundation of the world. And Christ, our Substitute and Surety,
did not stand alone in the wondrous undertaking of the ransom of man. In the
plan to save a lost world, the
counsel was between them both; the covenant of peace was between the
Father and the Son.” Signs of
the Times, December 23, 1897, par. 2.
“By Christ the work upon which the
fulfillment of God’s purpose rests, was accomplished. This was the
agreement in the councils of the
God-head. The Father purposed in counsel with his Son that the
human family should be tested and proved,…” Gospel Herald, June 11, 1902, par. 6.
“The Son of God, heaven’s glorious
Commander, was touched with pity for the fallen race. His heart was moved with
infinite compassion as the woes of the lost world rose up before Him. But
divine love had conceived a plan whereby the lost might be redeemed. The broken
law of God demanded the life of sinners. In all the universe there was but One
who could, in behalf of humanity, satisfy its claims. Since the divine law is
as sacred as God Himself, only one equal with God could make atonement for its
transgression. None but Christ could redeem fallen humans from the curse of the
law and bring them again into harmony with Heaven. Christ would take upon
Himself the guilt and shame of sin—sin so offensive to a holy God that it must
separate the Father and His Son....”
“Before the Father [Christ] pleaded
in the sinner’s behalf, while the host of heaven awaited the result with an
intensity of interest that words cannot express. Long continued was that
mysterious communing—‘the counsel of
peace’ for the fallen human race. The plan of salvation had been laid
before the creation of the earth, for Christ is ‘the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world.’ Yet it was a struggle, even with the King of the
universe, to yield up His Son to die for the guilty race. . . . Oh, the mystery
of redemption! The love of God for a world that did not love Him! Who can know
the depths of that love that ‘passeth knowledge’? ...” Christ Triumphant, p. 30.
“By His life and His death, Christ
has achieved even more than recovery from the ruin wrought through sin. It was
Satan’s purpose to bring about an eternal separation between God and man; but
in Christ we become more closely united to God than if we had never fallen. In
taking our nature, the Saviour has bound Himself to humanity by a tie that is
never to be broken. Through the eternal ages He is linked with us. ‘God so
loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son.’ John 3:16. He gave Him
not only to bear our sins, and to die as our sacrifice; He gave Him to the
fallen race. To assure us of His
immutable counsel of peace, God gave His only-begotten Son to become one of
the human family, forever to retain His human nature. This is the pledge that
God will fulfill His word. ‘Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given:
and the government shall be upon His shoulder.’ God has adopted human nature in
the person of His Son, and has carried the same into the highest heaven. It is
the ‘Son of man’ who shares the throne of the universe. It is the ‘Son of man’
whose name shall be called, ‘Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The
everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.’ Isaiah 9:6. The I AM is the Daysman between
God and humanity, laying His hand upon both. He who is ‘holy, harmless,
undefiled, separate from sinners,’ is not ashamed to call us brethren. Hebrews
7:26; 2:11. In Christ the family of earth and the family of heaven are
bound together. Christ glorified is our brother. Heaven is enshrined in
humanity, and humanity is enfolded in the bosom of Infinite Love.” Desire of Ages, p. 25.
“Before the foundations of the
earth were laid, the Father and the Son had united in a covenant to redeem man
if he should be overcome by Satan. They had clasped Their hands in a solemn
pledge that Christ should become the surety for the human race.” Desire of Ages, p. 834.
“‘And the counsel of peace shall be
between Them both.’ Zechariah 6:12, 13, A. R. V.” Testimonies for the church, vol. 8, p. 269.
“To the present time, men insist on
being saved in some way by which they may perform some important work. If they
see there is no way in which to weave self into the work, they reject the
salvation provided. They trample under foot the Son of God, and count the blood
of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified as an unholy thing. Jesus could
give alone security to God; for he was equal with God. He alone could be a
mediator between God and man; for he possessed divinity and humanity. Jesus
could thus give security to both parties for the fulfillment of the prescribed
conditions. As the Son of God he gives security to God in our behalf, and as
the eternal Word, as one equal with the Father, he assures us of the Father’s love
to usward who believe his pledged word. When God would assure us of his immutable counsel of peace, he
gives his only begotten Son to become one of the human family, forever to
retain his human nature as a pledge that God will fulfill his word.” Review and Herald, April 3, 1894 par. 13.
“Before the Father He pleaded in
the sinner’s behalf, while the host of heaven awaited the result with an
intensity of interest that words can not express. Long continued was that mysterious communing— ‘the counsel of peace’
—for the fallen sons of men. The plan of salvation had been laid before the
creation of the earth; for Christ is a lamb ‘foreordained before the foundation
of the world’; yet it was a struggle, even with the King of the universe, to
yield up His Son to die for the guilty race. But ‘God so loved the world, that
He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not
perish, but have everlasting life.’ O, the mystery of redemption! the love of
God for a world that did not love Him! Who can know the depths of that love
which ‘passeth knowledge’? Through endless ages, immortal minds, seeking to
comprehend the mystery of that incomprehensible love, will wonder and adore.” Signs of the Times, November 4, 1908
par. 3.
(Where is her statement that the
third person of a trinity took part in the Counsel of peace? It was only
between the divine Father and Son.)
But, before Christ can bring us
into that counsel of peace He must unsheathe a sword—the sword of the Spirit,
which is the word of God. And Jesus is the word of God. He is the communication
from His Father, the Schoolmaster. As our Principal, the Father holds us under
the condemnation of His Law.
“I saw some, with strong faith and
agonizing cries, pleading with God. Their countenances were pale and marked
with deep anxiety, expressive of their internal struggle. Firmness and great
earnestness was expressed in their countenances; large drops of perspiration
fell from their foreheads. Now and then their faces would light up with the marks
of God’s approbation, and again the same solemn, earnest, anxious look would
settle upon them.
Evil
angels crowded around, pressing darkness upon them to shut out Jesus from their
view, that their eyes might be drawn to the darkness that surrounded them, and
thus they be led to distrust God and murmur against Him. Their only safety was
in keeping their eyes directed upward. Angels of God had charge over His
people, and as the poisonous atmosphere of evil angels was pressed around these
anxious ones, the heavenly angels were continually wafting their wings over
them to scatter the thick darkness.
As the
praying ones continued their earnest cries, at times a ray of light from Jesus
came to them, to encourage their hearts and light up their countenances. Some,
I saw, did not participate in this work of agonizing and pleading. They seemed
indifferent and careless. They were not resisting the darkness around them, and
it shut them in like a thick cloud. The angels of God left these and went to
the aid of the earnest, praying ones. I saw angels of God hasten to the
assistance of all who were struggling with all their power to resist the evil
angels and trying to help themselves by calling upon God with perseverance. But
His angels left those who made no effort to help themselves, and I lost sight
of them.
I asked
the meaning of the shaking I had seen and was shown that it would be caused by
the straight testimony called forth by the counsel of the True Witness to the
Laodiceans. This will have its effect upon the heart of the receiver, and will
lead him to exalt the standard and pour forth the straight truth. Some will not
bear this straight testimony. They will rise up against it, and this is what
will cause a shaking among God’s people
I saw that
the testimony of the True Witness has not been half heeded. The solemn
testimony upon which the destiny of the church hangs has been lightly esteemed,
if not entirely disregarded. This testimony must work deep repentance; all who
truly receive it will obey it and be purified.” Early Writings, p. 269, 270.
When we finally stop resisting the
claims of His Law as it is shown in the Spirit of Prophecy, then He brings us
to Christ to see the great cost our redemption caused the Godhead. “All that
the Father giveth Me shall come to Me; and him that cometh to Me I will in no
wise cast out.” (John 6:37). When we have bowed to God’s loss of His only
Begotten, after having bowed to the exalted position of the Father and His
great Representative, His Law, then we surely fall and come to Christ in
repentance. Salvation requires our unreserved surrender both to the Law of God
and to the crucifixion of His Son. Then with justification comes the witness of
Their Spirit, Their Counsel, the voice of God through His only begotten Son. In
His presence is fullness of joy, and at His right hand are pleasures forevermore.
