Elohim

H430 ‘ēlôhîym

Plural of H433; gods in the ordinary sense; but specifically used (in the plural thus, especially with the article) of the supreme God; occasionally applied by way of deference to magistrates; and sometimes as a superlative: -angels, X exceeding, God (gods) (-dress, -ly), X (very) great, judges, X mighty.

Strong’s Hebrew and Greek Dictionaries

“Elohim”, being plural, translates: “the Godhead”. So, we should plug in “the Godhead” for “Elohim”. Thus, “the Spirit^H7307[Ruach] of [Elohim]”, would be defined as “the Spirit of the Godhead”, i.e. “the Spirit of God” and “the Spirit of Christ” (Rom. 8:9).

 

Gen 1:1  In the beginning [the Godhead] created the heaven and the earth.

Gen 1:2  And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit^H7307[Ruach] of [the Godhead] moved upon the face of the waters.

Gen 1:3  And [the Godhead] said, Let there be light: and there was light.

Gen 1:4  And [the Godhead] saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

Gen 1:5  And [the Godhead] called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

Gen 1:6  And [the Godhead] said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.

Gen 1:7  And [the Godhead] made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.…

Gen 1:26  And [the Godhead] said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

Gen 1:27  So [the Godhead] created man in his own image, in the image of [the Godhead] created he him; male and female created he them.

Gen 1:28  And [the Godhead] blessed them, and [the Godhead] said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

Gen 1:29  And [the Godhead] said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.

Gen 1:30  And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.

Gen 1:31  And [the Godhead] saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

Thus, “the Spirit^H7307 [Ruach] of [Elohim]”, would be defined as “the Spirit of Elohim”, “the Spirit of the Godhead”, i.e. “the Spirit of God … the Spirit of Christ” (Rom. 8:9).

“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.” (Rom. 8:9). The Spirit^H7307 [Ruach] of [Elohim] can only be defined as the Spirit of God and the Spirit of His Son.

The Spirit^H7307 [Ruach] of [Elohim] cannot be defined as “the Spirit of the Spirit”. If “of”, as in “the Spirit^H7307 [Ruach] of [Elohim]”, were translated, “from”, as in “the Spirit from God”, and “the Spirit from Christ”, it still could not be translated, “the Spirit from the Spirit”; it would be as nonsensical as “the Spirit of the Spirit”.

Why is the Trinity and Holy Spirit so momentous a subject that it needs so much agitation? Because, if we are not having the biblically correct “in the Spirit” Christianity, then we are “in the flesh” and we are “none of His”; that is, we are none of Christ’s. We are yet in our sins. We are reprobate. We are not converted; we have no part with Christ. We are not saved. We are not born again into His kingdom. We are still part of Satan’s dominion, and worse, we are caught in his world-wide delusion. We are worshiping him under his occult spiritualism.

Biblically, to be “in the Spirit” means to “have … the Spirit of Christ”. To be in the Spirit means to receive from the Spirit of Christ His “power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” (John 1:12,13). To be in the Spirit means to have “the Spirit of God dwell in you” for Jesus’ power to keep all His commandments. “In His days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is His name whereby He shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.” (Jer. 23:6). “Here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” (Rev. 14:12).

To the unconverted Christian who is serious about his standing before God, being reprobate, none of Christ’s, and having no part with Him, call forth serious chastisement of peace. And if I am a church leader who is exposed as being unconverted, then I can lose my standing before men—an even greater chastisement of peace. It’s a serious accusation to one held up highly among the church that he doesn’t have the Spirit, because then he is not quickened; he is dead in sin. He has no simplicity in Christ, but is operating by his own works, his own mammoth mental constructs that leave him heavily burdened and damned. Yet, unconverted church leaders have had a long history—long before Paul wrote of it.

“But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him….

But though I be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge; but we have been throughly made manifest among you in all things.

Have I committed an offence in abasing myself that ye might be exalted, because I have preached to you the gospel of God freely?….

Wherefore? because I love you not? God knoweth.

But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off occasion from them which desire occasion; that wherein they glory, they may be found even as we. For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.” (2Cor. 11: 3,4,6,7,12,13).

Oh, the wrestlings of that man of God for the churches he espoused to Christ. They were almost as reprobate as the false apostles. “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?” (2Cor. 13:5). “But”, he wrote, “ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.” (1Cor. 6:11). Thankfully, God doesn’t immediately cut us off for being tempted away from “the Spirit of His Son” (Gal. 4:6).

If they break My statutes, and keep not My commandments; then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. (Ps. 89:31, 32).

I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished (Jer. 30:10, 11).

Nevertheless My lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer My faithfulness to fail (Ps. 89:33).

But, if I am so high in the leadership of God and I can’t explain the simplicity of the gospel in Jesus, then I need to look for another job. Either that, or, I better be quick on my feet and come up with Bible doctrine that matches what I have in my personal religious experience. I need to handle the word of God deceitfully, and do a real thorough work of a new religion, or it won’t sell. If I can’t rework the truth before I am exposed, then I need to borrow an already made doctrine and tweak it to look like my group’s religion.

“Through heathenism, Satan had for ages turned men away from God; but he won his great triumph in perverting the faith of Israel. By contemplating and worshiping their own conceptions, the heathen had lost a knowledge of God, and had become more and more corrupt. So it was with Israel. The principle that man can save himself by his own works lay at the foundation of every heathen religion; it had now become the principle of the Jewish religion. Satan had implanted this principle. Wherever it is held, men have no barrier against sin.” Desire of Ages, p. 35.

Deceitfully handling the word of God and molding it to fit Satan’s religion happened to the ancient Hebrew religion, and again it occurred to Christianity early in its existence, as paul tried to warn the early church,

“Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;

Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?

And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.

For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.” (2Thess. 2:3-7).

Paul, by the Spirit of Christ, had mastered the Old Testament scriptures. His warning to the church was based on Daniel’s prophecies. In those visions Paul saw a usurping power taking control of the church of Christ, blasphemously changing church doctrine and persecuting the faithful voices who spoke out against him.

“He shall … have indignation against the holy covenant: so shall he do; he shall even return, and have intelligence with them that forsake the holy covenant.

And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate.

And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.

And they that understand among the people shall instruct many: yet they shall fall by the sword, and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil, many days.” (Dan. 11:30-33).

“And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.” (Dan. 7:25).

Once a backslidden church would stand with the wicked one, then great changes would be made to Bible doctrine. This is how the Father and Son Godhead became a trinity that gave room for Satan to oversee and control Their kingdom on earth. By manipulating what they believed about God and His only begotten Son, the devil controlled how they thought of God’s self-sacrificing love. Thus, Satan was able to lump the Christian world together with the vast pagan world, and rake the whole world into the fires prepared for him and his angels.

“Then shall that Wicked be revealed … even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” (2Thess. 2:8-12).

Who is the Spirit? From whom does it come to our hearts? Does it come from Someone else than God Himself and “His Son”? No, no one else, according to the scripture.

Another spirit beside “the Spirit of God” and “the Spirit of Christ” is not authorized by the one true Godhead. A third person in the Godhead is spurious, blasphemous, and leprous. He will intentionally spread his leprosy to us all. He will make us none of Christ’s. We will be as reprobate as the great deceptive adversary. We will have no part with Christ.

Therefore, we must withstand the third person of the Trinity at the door. We need to be “valiant men” and say, “Go out of the sanctuary; for thou hast trespassed”. We need to “thrust him out from thence” (2Chron. 26:20), that is, from the heavenly sanctuary and from our doctrine of God. The powerful, but presumptuous, trespasser of the Godhead needs to be “cut off from the house of the LORD”, “being a leper” (2Chron. 26:21). He needs to be quarantined to a “several house” “unto the day of his death” (Ibid.), and ultimately be blotted out of existence (see Revelation 20:10).

Divested of the personality of humanity, PART I

Webster’s 1828 Dictionary

DIVEST, v.t. [L. It is the same word as devest, but the latter is appropriately used as a technical term in law.]

1. To strip of clothes, arms or equipage; opposed to invest.

2. To deprive; as, to divest one of his rights or privileges; to divest one of title or property.

3. To deprive or strip of any thing that covers, surrounds or attends; as, to divest one of his glory; to divest a subject of deceptive appearances, or false ornaments.

DIVESTED, pp. Stripped; undressed; deprived.

Webster’s Third New International Dictionary (1986)

Divest to undress or strip esp. of clothing ornament, or equipment

To dispossess or deprive esp. of possessions or vested rights

Archaic to lay aside, abandon

To take away (possessions or vested rights)

Syn: see strip

A well known passage from Desire of Ages that I have color coded to help match another passage from Manuscript Releases, volume 14:

“Before this the Spirit had been in the world; from the very beginning of the work of redemption He had been moving upon men’s hearts. But while Christ was on earth, the disciples had desired no other helper. Not until they were deprived of His presence would they feel their need of the Spirit, and then He would come.

“The Holy Spirit is Christ’s representative, but divested of the personality of humanity, and independent thereof. Cumbered with humanity, Christ could not be in every place personally. Therefore it was for their interest that He should go to the Father, and send the Spirit to be His successor on earth. No one could then have any advantage because of his location or his personal contact with Christ. By the Spirit the Saviour would be accessible to all. In this sense He would be nearer to them than if He had not ascended on high.”  Desire of Ages, p. 669.1,2, 1890.

“Cumbered with humanity, Christ could not be in every place personally; therefore it was altogether for their advantage that He should leave them, go to His father, and send the Holy Spirit to be His successor on earth. The Holy Spirit is Himself divested of the personality of humanity and independent thereof. He would represent Himself as present in all places by His Holy Spirit, as the Omnipresent. ‘But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in My name, He shall (although unseen by you), [THIS PHRASE WAS ADDED BY ELLEN WHITE.] teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you’ [John 14:26]. ‘Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will come not unto you; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you’ [John 16:7].”  Manuscript Releases, volume 14, p. 23.3}. Letter 119, 1895.

Notice the more specific statement, that the Holy Spirit is “Christ Himself”, is dated after the more universally known text from Desire of Ages, published in 1890. This challenges the many cries that Ellen White changed her theological stance on the Godhead and added a third being with the Father and Son. The definition of “divest” is very definitive of the personality of the Spirit. In order to divest someone of something, they must have been previously invested with it. In the case of the Spirit being divested of the personality of humanity, means that He had previously been invested with the personality of humanity. The use of the word, “divested”, is very telling of Ellen White’s anti-Trinitarianism. She was always striving to be as accurate and particular in her language as anyone could be. And the definition of “divested” has not changed in the least since 1828.

So, she was saying nothing different in Desire of Ages than she had earlier written in the letter bound in Manuscript Releases, volume 14. Jesus would send His Spirit as His “representative”; “He would represent Himself”. And that is because there is no other Mediator or Intercessor or Advocate between God and man than the Man Christ Jesus, none other name under heaven by which we must be saved. “The Holy Spirit is Himself [Christ] divested of the personality of humanity and independent thereof. He would represent Himself as present in all places by His Holy Spirit, as the Omnipresent.” Manuscript Releases, volume 14, p. 23. “The Holy Spirit is Christ’s representative, but divested of the personality of humanity, and independent thereof.… By the Spirit the Saviour would be accessible to all. In this sense He would be nearer to them than if He had not ascended on high.”  Desire of Ages, p. 669.

So, clearly the Spirit is not a third person of a Trinity. The Spirit is the Saviour, “the Spirit of the Saviour”. Somehow, some way, the union of the Father and Son CREATORS can make 2 personalities to equal 3—as far as we can perceive the Father and Son. The reality is that They are two, always have been two and always will be two. But, our limited intelligence should not be relied upon. We should rely upon the words of biblical inspiration. We should leave “the secret things … unto the LORD our God”, but keep “those things which are revealed”. For they “belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.” (Deut. 29:29).

“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.

Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.

For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.” (1Cor. 2:9-16).

Maybe we can liken the person of our preincarnate Mediator, Michael, “He who is like God”. In 1 Corinthians 2:11 Paul said that since we are made in His image, we can analyze ourselves and learn about God and His Spirit. Christ and His Spirit are similar to the way people recognize my voice as me; but, literally, my voice is not me. If you heard me over the radio, you wouldn’t hear me, rather you heard the electronic reconstruction of my audible voice having entered a microphone and turned into A/C voltage levels and amplitudes. My written vocabulary in this blog can be referred to as me; but, it’s only the compositions of my thoughts. A picture of me can be said to be me, even though a photograph is made of special paper and chemicals, and isn’t flesh and blood. At a distance my visible person is me, yet really don’t you need to touch my person in order to say, “This is David”? And even if you touch my skin, my thoughts are really the essence of me. If you touch my arm, are you touching me or my arm? You say that you are touching me in both cases, if you can allow for that kind of generalization. This may sound like semantics or philosophical, but with the Creators and Their Spirit, all this semantics or philosophy takes on a whole new realm of study. We all have many extensions of ourselves. They are different that the Creators’ Spirit because our visible, audible, tangible, literary, intellectual influences don’t have the infinite force that comes from the Father and His only Begotten. By Their Spirit They can speak creation into existence.

By His Spirit He hath garnished the heavens; His hand hath formed the crooked serpent. (Job 26:13).

But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding. (Job 32:8).

The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life. (Job 33:4).

If He set His heart upon man, if He gather unto Himself His Spirit and His breath; all flesh shall perish together, and man shall turn again unto dust. (Job 34:14,35).

By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth.

He gathereth the waters of the sea together as an heap: He layeth up the depth in storehouses.

Let all the earth fear the LORD: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him.

For He spake, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast. (Ps. 33:6-9).

Their breath, Their hand, Their voice, Their command is Their Spirit that has creative power.

The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He seeth the Father do: for what things soever He doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.

For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth Him all things that Himself doeth: and He will shew Him greater works than these, that ye may marvel.

For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom He will.…

Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.

For as the Father hath life in Himself; so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself. (John 5:19-21,25,26).

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

Divested of the personality of humanity PART II

Let’s quote again the text from Desire of Ages, but recast it in what we’ve seen in light of Manuscript Releases. Let’s add some proven language that fills in the holes that Ellen White places on her somewhat veiled statement from Desire of Ages. And I quote:

“Before this the Spirit had been in the world; from the very beginning of the work of redemption He had been moving upon men’s hearts. But while Christ was [physically] on earth, the disciples had desired no other helper [than Christ in His human form]. Not until they were deprived of His [physical] presence would they feel their need of the Spirit [presence of their beloved Helper], and then He [Christ] would come [to them spiritually, but just as personally].

     The Holy Spirit is Christ’s representative, but divested of the personality of humanity, and independent thereof. Cumbered with humanity, Christ could not be in every place personally. Therefore it was for their interest that He should go to the Father, and send the Spirit[of Christ] to be His successor on earth. No one could then have any advantage because of his location or his personal contact with Christ. By the Spirit the Saviour would be accessible to all. In this sense He would be nearer to them than if He had not ascended on high.”  Desire of Ages, p. 669.1,2, 1890.

Let’s add in some of other Bible writers’ explanations of the Spirit that amplify Mrs. White’s statement.

“Before this the Spirit [“the Spirit … the Spirit of God … the Spirit of Christ” (Rom. 8:9, cf John 1:1-5, 9; 12:49, 50; Prov. 8:12-23)] had been in the world; from the very beginning of the work of redemption He had been moving upon men’s hearts.

[“I wisdom dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge of witty inventions.

The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.

Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom: I am understanding; I have strength.….

Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth….

Then I was by Him, as one brought up with Him: and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him;

Rejoicing in the habitable part of His earth; and My delights were with the sons of men.

Now therefore hearken unto Me, O ye children: for blessed are they that keep My ways.

Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not.

Blessed is the man that heareth Me, watching daily at My gates, waiting at the posts of My doors.

For whoso findeth Me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the LORD.

But he that sinneth against Me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate Me love death.” (Prov. 8:12-14, 25, 30-36). “But of Him (God) are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness….” (1Cor. 1:30).]. But while Christ was [physically] on earth, the disciples had desired no other helper [than Christ in His human form]. Not until they were deprived of His [physical] presence would they feel their need of the Spirit [“of His Son” (Gal. 4:6, cf John 1:1-5, 9; 12:49, 50], and then He [Christ] would come [to them spiritually, but just as personally].”

What can we learn of Jesus’ personal presence as a personal Saviour to the Jews’ 2,000 years ago, that we can apply to His personal presence as a personal Saviour to us in our day?

“For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh.” (Rom. 8:3).

“Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.” (Phil. 2:6,7).

“Wherefore when He cometh into the world, He saith, Sacrifice and offering Thou wouldest not, but a body hast Thou prepared Me.” (Heb. 10:5).

What kind of a body did Jesus have that differs from ours? Nothing different. He was made in our likeness; He was the second Adam. Yet, He did have something else that He inherited, that we were not born with. He inherited the divine nature. His Father’s power and nature germinated the egg of His mother’s sinful nature. But, as He forewarned Eve, “thy husband …  shall rule over thee” (Gen. 3:16), so did God’s powerful, sinless nature dominate Miriam’s nature, a creature, made lower than the angels, and weakened by 4,000 years of sin. At conception and forever onward, Jesus was one with His Father. Never for a split-second did the Son of God separate from His Father; His thoughts, His words, His actions never operated apart from His dear Abba. Nevertheless, the second Adam’s conception reveals spiritual aspects of our second conception by the Spirit. We are born again with Christ’s divine nature, and our first birth and first nature are forgotten by God. We are treated as if we never sinned and never had a sinful nature. We are “born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.” (1Pet. 1:23). “As many as received [the Word], to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” (John 1:12,13).

Because the Spirit of wisdom and truth made flesh inherited His Father’s divinity, the Word incorporated into a Man also inherited His Father’s divine nature and power. His Father’s power and divinity was contained in human flesh, but at times His inherent divinity squeezed through the cracks of Jesus’ seamless inherent humanity for the necessity of causing conviction.

“Christ spoke with the authority of a king, and in His appearance, and in the tones of His voice, there was that which they had no power to resist. At the word of command they realized, as they had never realized before, their true position as hypocrites and robbers. When divinity flashed through humanity, not only did they see indignation on Christ’s countenance; they realized the import of His words. They felt as if before the throne of the eternal Judge, with their sentence passed on them for time and for eternity. For a time they were convinced that Christ was a prophet; and many believed Him to be the Messiah. The Holy Spirit flashed into their minds the utterances of the prophets concerning Christ. Would they yield to this conviction?” Desire of Ages, p. 162.

“And there shall come forth a Rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:

And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD;

And shall make Him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and He shall not judge after the sight of His eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of His ears:

But with righteousness shall He judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and He shall smite the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips shall He slay the wicked.

And righteousness shall be the girdle of His loins, and faithfulness the girdle of His reins” (Isa. 11:1-5).

He would be the preincarnate Spirit of wisdom that delighted in the sons of men, the very Spirit of truth that lighteth every man that cometh into the world, the Word Himself, now tabernacling with the flesh. And thus, in His Son, God’s divine Spirit fully cohabitated with a human spirit for the first time since Eden. God was in Christ who was the fullness of the Godhead manifested, as the fullness of the Godhead would inhabit a purified, strengthened human body. Michael, the holy Son of God, incorporated into humanity would become Jesus, the holy Son of man. Yet, amazing though it be that the Spirit and body of the Son would join humanity in the spirit and body of Adam’s, even more wonderful, the SPIRIT of the Father would also join us in the Spirit of His Son’s. As the Father had said concerning His Son as His most holy tabernacle, He spoke to every member of Adam’s progeny all the way down to Miriam,

“Let them [Adam’s lineage through Seth] make Me a [human] sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.” (Ex. 25:8).

The Spirit lifts up a standard

“When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him.” (Isa. 59:19).

“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.” (John 14:15,16).

For those who renounce their idols and false worship, an opening in the heart is made for the Promised One. They have reconsecrated themselves to His Father’s will. They have renewed their commitment to His covenant by sacrifice. He brings these humbled lambs to His Son who will in no way cast them away, but will seal their commitment to His Father. Of God they are in Christ Jesus; and of Christ they are in God (1Cor. 1:30). They keep His commandments because they love Him. Therefore Jesus prays His Father to give them a special manifestation of Their presence (John 14:23).

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto My Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in My name, I will do it.” (John 14:12-14).

The strong voice from heaven to the consecrated apostles throughout the book of Acts was the glorified Son of God, “divested of the personality of humanity, and independent thereof”. Desire of Ages, p. 669. The Spirit of the Son extended far from His bodily frame, filling heaven and earth, as we see in Revelation 5:6. “And I beheld...a Lamb as It had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.” Although He couldn’t be with them bodily, He could still be with them by His Spirit. He would pray His Father to bring their spirit to Him to guide them in the defense of the gospel. “In this sense He would be nearer to them than if He had not ascended on high.” Desire of Ages, p. 669.

“Cumbered with humanity, Christ could not be in every place personally; therefore it was altogether for their advantage that He should leave them, go to His father, and send the Holy Spirit to be His successor on earth. The Holy Spirit is Himself divested of the personality of humanity and independent thereof. He would represent Himself as present in all places by His Holy Spirit, as the Omnipresent.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 14, p. 23.3.

“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.” (John 14:15-18). “Let not your heart be troubled.... Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” (John 14:1,27). Physically, and in a modified, limited way spiritually Jesus was next to them as their comforter that night. But, later, He would be in them spiritually in no modified way after His reunion with His Father.

Jesus’ message to His disciples was the same as He had always given His people. To keep His commandments is to turn from transgression; and vice versa, to continue in sin is to never have known Jesus and His words from heaven (1Jn. 3:6). “He that hath received His testimony hath set to his seal that God is true.” (John 3:33). Obedience to God and rebellion against God are polar opposites. “Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.” (1Jn. 3:4). When we throw away our idols, then Jesus can be a Redeemer to us and can come into our hearts by His Spirit, setting His seal in our spirit, confirming a determination in us to “serve the Law of God.” (Rom. 7:25). “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Col. 1:27).

“And the Redeemer [the Spirit of the LORD] shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the LORD.” (Isa. 59:20).

In His last discourse with His chosen eleven, Jesus said they would see Him on the Day of Pentecost and they would live again because they would know that He still lived. Then Jesus’ biblical explanation of tri-unity: “I…in My Father, and ye in Me, and I in you”. The three-way union on that Day would cause a deluge of heaven-sent blessing upon the forlorn disciples.

“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.

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 14:19-21).

If we have been humbled by the Law of God, or if we have been humbled by the consequences to our neglect of the Law, then we may call to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. The Lord God will answer us by lifting up His cross, and we discern the damnation He took in our place and our revenge toward God that we took out on His Mediator. “The reproaches of them that reproached Thee fell on Me.” (Rom. 15:3). Our special need and brokenness upon that Stone for our disloyalty, our repentance full and deep, is heard by the Lord of Sabaoth and our loyalty is restored. Then when the adversary comes in like a flood we can call on the Lord, and the special manifestation of the tightly woven together Father and Son spoken of in Isaiah 59:19 lifts up a powerful banner in our spirit against the hosts of evil. “Behold, a young lion roared against him. And the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and he rent him as he would have rent a kid.” (Judg. 14:5,6).

“Because he hath set his love upon Me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known My name.

He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him.

With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him My salvation.” (Ps. 91:14-16).

“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). Jesus at our right hand with pleasures for evermore lifts up His own manifestation against the adversary and delivers us.“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto My Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye ask any thing in My name, I will do it.” (John 14:12-14).

Repentance may be sought by the Lord’s people, without receiving this special manifestation from the throne of heaven. But that is only because their repentance is not fully sincere, but half-hearted, and mingled with love of idolatry. And God cannot honor such repentance except with partial, limited blessing. To the extent that we are whole-hearted do we receive His full blessing. And, if we continue to seek Him and to know His statutes and judgments, then eventually with His help we clear away all the rubbish that we have set up to love and worship instead of His Father. Self-love, love of this world, and relishing the things that come from the adversary all go away. Now, the Schoolmaster can bring us to Christ to be justified by faith. Then, and only then do we have His commandments and keep them. And only then does He appear over our Mt. Zion. And only then does His special manifestation rout the enemy and deliver us.

“For He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon His head; and He put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloke. According to their deeds, accordingly He will repay, fury to His adversaries, recompence to His enemies; to the islands He will repay recompence. So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and His glory from the rising of the sun.” (Isa. 59:17-19).

“And we shall live in His sight” (Hos. 6:2), His enemies under His rulership and the glories of His truth surrounding us.

The influence of the Holy Spirit is the life of Christ in the soul

 Christ was about to depart to His home in the heavenly courts, but He assured His disciples that He would send them the Comforter, who would abide with them forever. To the guidance of this Comforter all may implicitly trust. He is the Spirit of truth; but this truth the world can neither see nor receive. . . . {OFC 127.1}

Christ desired His disciples to understand that He would not leave them orphans. “I will not leave you comfortless,” He declared: “I will come to you” (John 14:18, 19). . . . Precious, glorious assurance of eternal life! Even though He was to be absent, their relation to Him was to be that of a child to its parent. . . . {OFC 127.2}

The words spoken to the disciples come to us through their words. The Comforter is ours as well as theirs, at all times and in all places, in all sorrows and in all affliction, when the outlook seems dark and the future perplexing and we feel helpless and alone. These are times when the Comforter will be sent in answer to the prayer of faith. {OFC 127.3}

There is no comforter like Christ, so tender and so true. He is touched with the feeling of our infirmities. His Spirit speaks to the heart. Circumstances may separate us from our friends; the broad, restless ocean may roll between us and them. Though their sincere friendship may still exist, they may be unable to demonstrate it by doing for us that which would be gratefully received. But no circumstances, no distance, can separate us from the heavenly Comforter. Wherever we are, wherever we may go, He is always there, one given in Christ’s place, to act in His stead. He is always at our right hand, to speak soothing, gentle words, to support, sustain, uphold, and cheer. The influence of the Holy Spirit is the life of Christ in the soul. This Spirit works in and through every one who receives Christ. Those who know the indwelling of this Spirit reveal its fruit—love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith. {OFC 127.4}

Spirit of truth reaching and teaching, abiding and guiding.

“My son, keep thy father’s commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother:

Bind them continually upon thine heart, and tie them about thy neck.

When thou goest, it shall lead thee; when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee; and when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee.” (Prov. 6:20-22).

 

“His delight is in the law of the LORD; and in His law doth he meditate day and night.

And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.” (Ps. 1:2,3).

 

“I Wisdom dwell with prudence…. Counsel is Mine, and sound wisdom: I am understanding; I have strength.” (Prov. 8:12,14).

 

“I love them that love Me; and those that seek Me early shall find me…. But he that sinneth against Me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate Me love death.” (Prov. 8:17,36).

 

All who love the Word who was made flesh love the truth that He bore to the world. All who love Him find His mercies new every morning. And they will find Him making incursions into their thoughts all day and all night. With delight they find His precepts making incursions into their thoughts day and night. Not a dead letter or lifeless concept entertains them day and night, but the Father’s imparted presence of His only Begotten. None other than Jesus Himself entertains them with His truth and grace that thrill them and teach them truth; it is Christ’s voice they hear in their thoughts.

 

“Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in Thy presence is fulness of joy; at Thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” (Ps. 16:11).

 

Jesus never comes to us without teaching us more of His Father’s will. “Out of His mouth goeth a sharp sword” (Rev. 19:15) —that is, the sword of truth, the “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” (Eph. 6:17). “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword” (Heb. 4:12). Jesus so identifies with with the word of His Father that He is the Word.

 

Jesus will show us the path of life when His presence is near. It is His presence that makes truth so pleasurable and powerful to overthrow the dug-in spells of Satan. The power of sin upon our soul that affects our mind and body flees when the Spirit of Christ enters. When Jesus comes to us by His Spirit He brings with Him truth and grace. His presence is full of biblical truth and grace. We become a host for the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of truth. We become a host for the possession by Christ and His ministering spirits.

 

“When the soul surrenders itself to Christ, a new power takes possession of the new heart. A change is wrought which man can never accomplish for himself. It is a supernatural work, bringing a supernatural element into human nature. The soul that is yielded to Christ becomes His own fortress, which He holds in a revolted world, and He intends that no authority shall be known in it but His own. A soul thus kept in possession by the heavenly agencies is impregnable to the assaults of Satan.” Desire of Ages, p. 324.

 

With Their truth and grace furnishings our soul becomes a fit tabernacle for Jesus to abide with His cloud of heavenly agencies. Our souls are holy temples,  we become holy schoolhouses in which They dwell. “With deep earnestness the mother of Jesus watched the unfolding of His powers.… Through the Holy Spirit she received wisdom to co-operate with the heavenly agencies in the development of this child, who could claim only God as His Father.” Desire of Ages, p. 69. “The child Jesus did not receive instruction in the synagogue schools.… As He advanced from childhood to youth, He did not seek the schools of the rabbis. He needed not the education to be obtained from such sources; for God was His instructor.” Desire of Ages, p. 70.

 

In the above two quotations we see that the Holy Spirit, who taught the mother of Jesus, was the same teacher of her Son—God His Father.

 

Jesus never comes to us without bringing truth with Him; that is, biblical truth, His Father’s Law. This is the only way we know that the pleasure of His presence is not a familiar spirit that is pleasurable to our flesh. Christ, as the Spirit of truth, is the only way we know that His supernatural presence is not Satan through demonic Spiritual Exercises, his spiritualistic practices that come to us today by his more modern, accepted title, Spiritual Formation. The one true God, the Schoolmaster “scourgeth every son whom He receiveth.” (Heb. 12:6). If we are surrendered to the Schoolmaster’s scourging truth, then He immediately brings us to His Son to be justified and to be reconciled to Himself, God our Schoolmaster. “For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.” (Prov. 3:12). “THIS IS MY BELOVED SON, IN WHOM I AM WELL PLEASED; HEAR YE HIM”! (Matt. 17:5). Each sinner who the Schoolmaster gives to His Son will come to the Son; and the Son will in no wise cast him out. He has received Jesus and Jesus has received him. “Ye in Me, and I in you.” (John 14:20). In His acceptance he finds fullness of joy, and in His Spirit is life for evermore.

It is not an impersonal Law that “when thou goest, it shall lead thee; when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee; and when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee.” (Prov. 6:22). Rather, it is the Spirit of Christ, through the strong language of His Father’s Law and through His Father’s strong Spirit. They, the Father and Son Godhead, return to the renewed child of Adam with the same strong, holy communion that They had with unfallen Adam. And that holy communion is always in the context of the Law of God. Their communion is without the slightest bit of “lightness” (Jer. 23:32; 2Cor. 1:17), but it is full of light and delight.

 

To human hearts God sends His Son encased in truth. “If ye love Me, keep My commandments.” (John 14:15). Their love to Christ and commandment-keeping go hand in hand. And, thus the weakened children of God receive the strenth to meditate on His truth day and night. “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.” (John 14:16-18). Because the soul and Christ are reunited, His truth can efficiently enter the conscience. The will easily binds the precepts of the Law upon the heart and mind. The new Christians hold the truth in righteousness, handling the word of God honestly; and they guard their new treasure from being poisoned with the leavening power of Satan. They remain vigilant to anything that might prevent the testimony of Jesus from abiding with them forever.

 

“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 14:19,20). Because Jesus spoke of their future, He was really saying to His disciples that the world will see Him no more, but the disciples will see Him. He was speaking of Pentecost. In the near future then, they would confidently know Him to still be living by His powerful presence with them. “The times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; and He shall send Jesus Christ.” (Acts 3:19,20). The Father’s gift of Christ at Pentecost would launch them to give the gospel to the world. As lively stones of the church, they would become an unstoppable force to uplift the world from Satan’s squalor. The Law of the Lord would be written on their hearts and they would meditate on His Law day and night.

“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. Judas saith unto Him, not Iscariot, Lord, 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.” (John 14:21-23).

 

Like David and Solomon, the disciples had followed Jesus and had bound “His Law” (Isa. 42:4) in their hearts. Therefore, wherever they went, His voice led them; whenever they slept, His Law kept them; and when they awoke, Jesus talked with them. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto My Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” (John 14:12,,13).

 

“God is a Spirit” (John 4:24), and “the last Adam was made a quickening Spirit.” (1Cor. 15:45). “I and My Father are one.” (John 10:30). They are two Spirits perfectly united and who work in perfect unison.

 

Therefore, “There is…one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling.” (Eph. 4:4). Jesus said, “I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” (Matt. 9:13). “To Him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear His voice: and He calleth His own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. And when He putteth forth His own sheep, He goeth before them, and the sheep follow Him: for they know His voice…. And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear My voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand.” (John 10:3,4,16,27).

 

Jesus is saying that He is the Spirit, through His Father’s greater power, which called to the world beginning on the day of Pentecost. And He still calls to us, “Come. ...and drink of the water of life freely.” “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.” (John 7:37,38).

 

“All power is given into His hands, that He may dispense rich gifts unto men, imparting the priceless gift of His own righteousness to the helpless human agent. This is the message that God commanded to be given to the world. It is the third angel’s message, which is to be proclaimed with a loud voice, and attended with the outpouring of His Spirit in a large measure.” Testimonies to Ministers, p. 91, 92. Christ and all of His heavenly and earthly agencies, His “whole family in heaven and earth” (Eph. 3:15), His bride, will give His final call to the world.

 

“The imparted Holy Spirit enabled His disciples, the apostles, to stand firmly against every species of idolatry and to exalt the Lord and Him alone.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 2, p. 14.

 

“Christ comes with His own redeeming influence proposing through the agency of His Spirit to impart His Spirit to impart His efficiency to men, and to employ them as His instrumentalities, laborers together with Him in seeking to draw the world back to its loyalty.” The Kress Collection, p. 101.

 

“It is expedient for you that I 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…. Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth: for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak: and He will shew you things to come. He shall glorify Me: for He shall receive (G2983, lambanō) of Mine, and shall shew it unto you. All things that the Father hath are Mine: therefore said I, that He shall take (G2983, lambanō) of Mine, and shall shew it unto you.” (John 16:7-15).

 

Who is the “He” that Christ called the Comforter who would “receive (G2983, lambanō) of Mine, and…shew it unto you”? The Comforter is “the Father” who Jesus “therefore” had just previously said would “take (G2983, lambanō) of Mine, and…shew it unto you”.

 

“The Comforter” is “the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.” (2Cor. 1:3,4).

 

The Comforter’s comfort comes attached to justice and truth, tribulation and trouble. We can be thankful for the Father’s comfort after He has scourged us with His holy, spiritual whip, and then received us through our closer attachment with His Son. The Schoolmaster has driven His Son to rule over us and to greatly multiply our sorrows, so that our desire will be for a firmer hold on the Father’s commandments and statutes and judgments, and a closer, constant dependence on our Intercessor’s ever-living advocacy. “With Me in paradise” (Luke 23:43), we have eternal life today, and today we “sit in heavenly places” (Eph. 2:6) next to our Lord who sits next to His Father, the LORD of all, the Ancient of days. “God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 7:25), today lets us be “translated into the kingdom of His dear Son” (Col. 1:13).

Mysteries and paradigms

“Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not; but have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.” (2Cor. 4:2).

Is it correct to say, “Everyone believes what he wants to believe”? Is it right to say that truth exists by the mere decision of mortal men? Can sinful man, of himself actually decide what is truth? These are tough questions, fraught with accusation against the wisdom of men. No doubt, it has caused much counter-accusation and disunity and even persecution.

Nevertheless, is man’s discernment capable of deciding absolute truth? No. In the Garden of Eden Adam had that capability, but he lost it after his fall to the dominion of Satan. God took away his capability to discern truth, by removing His Spirit from Adam. Christ restored Adam and his wife to access with God’s Spirit of truth, but limited by their weakened ability to stand before His Law. The full restoration of the Edenic mind would have to wait many eons. Then “the manifestation of the sons of God” would come again “at the last trump” when “we shall be changed” (Rom. 8:19; 1Cor. 15:52, cf 2 Cor. 5:2).

After Adam’s fall only those who were restored to Christ could have access to the truth, though accessible only by their sincere loyalty to the transgressed Law. They would first have to surrender to the claims of the Law and receive a new heart and a new spirit. “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep My judgments, and do them.” (Eze. 36:26,27).

They would love God through His Son. The holy Son would impart to them a new nature, a new spirit to love God with all their new heart. With the new spirit and new heart would come a new mind, by which they could understand and discern the will of God. With a new heart and mind to please God would come a special privilege of seeing truths, absolute truths. “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. 2:27,28).

“...which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory…. The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” (1Cor. 2:8,14).

“Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought:

But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:…

But as it is written, 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.

Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.” (1Cor. 2:6,7,9-13).

It is a high claim to know truth that others cannot see. For God’s children to claim secret knowledge from God is the height of arrogance in the minds of the unconverted, un-anointed worldling; it is the height of ignorance, especially when profound knowledge pours out of babes and sucklings, who may have a low I.Q. and are unlearned, unschooled by classical education.

Satan blasphemes God and all who stand before Him by faith, “If they had a special endowment of wisdom and intellect from heaven, then why are they but carpenters and fishermen and tentmakers, prostitutes and publicans and lepers? Why are they blue-collar workers, the filth and off-scouring of the world? If they really were the sons of God, wouldn’t God clothe His royal children with flowing robes and bless them with prosperity in this life? What kind of inept, selfish Father God do they serve?”

Yes, it is a high claim, and a high honor to hold the truth, “unto our glory” (1Cor. 2:7). And it is hard for the babes to make that claim because they have been humbled by the knowledge of their sins, and are also pained to rise up above their brethren. This claim has always been painful to make by the humbled, converted children of God, nevertheless, God has required them to make it.

“Without controversy great is the mystery of godliness.” (1Tim. 3:16). “Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to His saints: 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.” (Col. 1:26,27).

“How that by revelation He made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words,

Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ)

Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit;

That the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ by the gospel:

Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of His power.

Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;

And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:

To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,

According to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Eph. 3:3-11).

I brought the truth of the Father and Son Godhead to my friend, John, who towers over me in intellectual strength and is firmly anchored upon the Spirit of Prophecy writings. I love him as my brother, and trust him because he is anchored to the Spirit of Prophecy. But, he cannot yet see the falsehood of a third person of the Godhead. So, I quoted to him the following statement because I thought it would convince him.

“Cumbered with humanity, Christ could not be in every place personally; therefore it was altogether for their advantage that He should leave them, go to His Father, and send the Holy Spirit to be His successor on earth. The Holy Spirit is Himself divested of the personality of humanity and independent thereof. He would represent Himself as present in all places by His Holy Spirit, as the Omnipresent. “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in My name, He shall (although unseen by you), [THIS PHRASE WAS ADDED BY ELLEN WHITE.] teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you” [John 14:26]. “Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will come not unto you; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you” [John 16:7].” Manuscript Releases, vol. 14, p. 23.

John smiled and said, “I believe that”. Then he went on to say, “I believe that the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity is Christ’s successor on earth and is divested of the personality of humanity.” He knew what I was saying and politely rejected it.

I was taken aback that something so clear to me was clearly understood in the opposite way by him. It didn’t challenge his concept of the Trinity in the slightest. So, I substituted “the Holy Spirit” for Mrs. White’s use of “Himself”. In a polite rebuttal I asked, “Then, you believe Ellen White was saying that ‘the Holy Spirit is [the Holy Spirit]?’” And I also averred, “You don’t see that to be ‘divested of the personality of humanity’ means that previously He must have been vested with that same ‘personality of humanity?’” Again, with a same, big smile, he said, “No. Divested doesn’t have to mean previously vested.”

Much let down, I realized again the difficulty in uprooting paradigms. And I also remembered that God is very patient with deeply-rooted paradigms. He has been v-e-r-y patient with me.

[By the way,the definition of divest: from www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/divest

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transitive verb. 1 a : to deprive or dispossess especially of property, authority, or title b : to undress or strip especially of clothing, ornament, or equipment c : rid, free. 2 : to take away from a person.]
 

So I decided to ask Daniel L., another person who I knew was a Trinity believer, but who has very little loyalty to Ellen White. I phrased my question so that he would not think that I was trying to force him to believe as Ellen White was promulgating in the above quotation from Manuscript Releases. I wanted to sound as un-opinionated as possible so that he could be as objective as possible. All I desired from him was his opinion of “her opinion”. By requesting his view on Ellen White’s “opinion” I felt he would be free to speak unbiased. I wanted his clear thought without him fearing I was going to back him into a theological corner and force him to renounce the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, as a divine being.

So, after reading the paragraph with no emphases, I asked him, “What do you believe Ellen White was saying from Manuscript Releases, volume 14, page 23? What is the plain reading of what you believe she was saying? Is it ‘The Holy Spirit is the Holy Spirit divested of the personality of humanity and independent thereof. He (the Holy Spirit) would represent Himself as present in all places by His Holy Spirit, as the Omnipresent’”? Or, I asked Daniel, “Was Ellen White saying, ‘The Holy Spirit is Christ Himself divested of the personality of humanity and independent thereof. Christ would represent Himself as present in all places by His Holy Spirit, as the Omnipresent’”?

Daniel, my non-Ellen White subscriber friend gave me his honest evaluation of her statement, which was the latter of the two above versions. He said, “Ellen White was saying, ‘The Holy Spirit is Christ divested of the personality of humanity and independent thereof. Christ would represent Himself as present in all places by His Holy Spirit, as the Omnipresent.’ A plain reading of her statement says that she believed Christ to be the Holy Spirit. To say, ‘The Holy Spirit is the Holy Spirit’ adds nothing to her commentary of Christ’s words. It makes no sense. Such a statement needed not to be said, if that was what she was saying, which I don’t believe she was saying.”

Daniel was my control group for this examination on the Trinitarian stance of my friend John versus my own non-Trinitarian stance. I wanted to know if I was biased and slanted, or John was. Is not the sentence, “The Holy Spirit is the Holy Spirit”, nonsensical? The statement, “The Holy Spirit is the Holy Spirit divested of the personality of humanity and independent thereof. The Holy Spirit would represent Himself as present in all places by His Holy Spirit, as the Omnipresent” can only be blindly understood by those whose beliefs are so rooted in Ellen White, more than the light shining from scripture, that they cannot see her clearest explanation of the gospel of John on the subject of the Godhead. They cannot see the tree for the forest. Another discrepancy in the Adventist Trinitarian on 14MR23.3 is saying, “The Holy Spirit would represent Himself by His Holy Spirit.” “The Holy Spirit...by His Holy Spirit”?  Ellen White could not have meant such gibberish! She must have been saying that Christ would represent Himself as the Omniscient Holy Spirit that we know. Christ is our Comforter, the only Comforter beside the Father, since both Father and Son [and not a third Spirit being] suffered for us, therefore the Father and Son alone can comfort us in all of our troubles.

To the Father and the Son the masses must always slip in a go-between, a third person Spirit. They cannot go directly by faith to the Son. In their minds the abundance of evidence cannot speak to them as it was written, that the Spirit of God is the Father’s person, His powerful, personal influence to create and to recreate, to teach and to guide, His life-giving presence with His divine personality. The authoritative voice to the patriarchs and prophets and kings of old is the same authoritative voice to the apostles and the wilderness church of the Dark Ages and Protestant Adventism today.

But, the Spirit is God. The Spirit of God is God’s Spirit. The Spirit of Christ is Christ, coming with all His divine personality, a heavenly personality divested of the human personality that genetically favored His earthly lineage from Adam through Abraham.

“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.

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 manifest Myself to him.” (John 14:18-21).

This agrees with the Apostle John’s statement in 1Jn 2:27 and 28, that the anointing of the Spirit is Jesus’ anointing for the purpose of our abiding with Him. Jesus repeated Himself in the next verses below. He would be the Comforter who no one would see or know, “even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him.” (John 14:17). “I have given them Thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” (John 17:14). “He is despised and rejected of men…and we hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.” (Isa. 53:3).

“Judas saith unto Him, not Iscariot, Lord, 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.” (John 14:22,23).

The Father and Son are the other Comforter who would come to them and anoint them with truth.

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

“But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.” (Matt. 10:19,20).

“And Jesus answered and said unto him, 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).

“For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.” (Phil. 1:19).

“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.” (1Cor. 2:10,11).

“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. 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 bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you.” (Rom. 8:9-11).

“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. 1:11).

“For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” (2Pet. 1:21).

Notice from Peter, that the Holy Ghost that moved the holy men is the Spirit of Christ which testified in them. The Holy Ghost and the Spirit of Jesus are one and the same. The Greek for “testified” comes from the same word for “testimony of Jesus”.

“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 of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.” (Rev. 1:1,2).

Notice from John that there is not a Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost third person involved in the inspiration and transmission of the Revelation, but only the Father, Jesus, His angel, and John. There is no Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost, but there is the Testimony of Jesus. This picture shows that “the Revelation of Jesus Christ” (Rev. 1:1) is “the testimony of Jesus Christ.” (Rev. 12:17). The Spirit of Christ is the testimony of Jesus.

“For it pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell.” (Col. 1:19). Not in “Them” , as in the 2^nd and 3^rd  Persons of the Godhead, but in Christ alone has it pleased the Father to have all His fullness dwell.

“And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.” (Rev. 5:6). The seven Spirits, or the Spirit without measure, came from Christ to His people throughout the world.

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

     The Father wrought by His Son in the creation of all heavenly beings. ‘By Him were all things created,... whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him.’ Colossians 1:16. Angels are God’s ministers, radiant with the light ever flowing from His presence and speeding on rapid wing to execute His will. But the Son, the anointed of God, the ‘express image of His person,’ ‘the brightness of His glory,’ ‘upholding all things by the word of His power,” holds supremacy over them all. Hebrews 1:3. ‘A glorious high throne from the beginning,’ was the place of His sanctuary (Jeremiah 17:12); ‘a scepter of righteousness,’ the scepter of His kingdom. Hebrews 1:8. ‘Honor and majesty are before Him: strength and beauty are in His sanctuary.’ Psalm 96:6. Mercy and truth go before His face. Psalm 89:14.” Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 34.

Both scripture and Spirit of Prophecy exalt Christ, leaving no room in the Godhead for a third person of a Trinity. The only other beings in the heavenly throne have ever been the angelic hosts. Such a third person is the devil’s effort to usurp Christ’s place in our hearts, of which Patriarchs and Prophets goes on to tell.

“But a change came over this happy state. There was one who perverted the freedom that God had granted to His creatures. Sin originated with him who, next to Christ, had been most honored of God and was highest in power and glory among the inhabitants of heaven. Lucifer, son of the morning,...” Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 35.