SPIRIT+Spirit+spirit= “the Spirit”

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An email

Hi David,

I hope you made it safely to Kingsland, today!

I had a thought about the controversial view of the Trinity, which you published in your book.

I think that in the spiritual experience of some Catholics, what you surmise may be true. However, in an absolute universal theological sense, that it is not. I.e., that in terms of theology, the Trinity really is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, while in some Catholics’ spirituality, ‘Mary’ has usurped the office of the Paraclete.

I know that Muslims are taught that the Holy Ghost equals ‘Mary.’

This topic that you’ve published is very subtle and sensitive, and I hope you weigh your semantics carefully.

God’s love,

 

 

Hi ______,
Thank you for your concern for me. I agree about Mary as another paraclete. There is a real psychology behind it all. That psychology is encapsulated in John 3:36. “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” When the wrath of God, His chastisement of our peace, His Spirit of truth abides on a conscience, it’s because that soul needs to humble itself under the mighty hand of God. That person needs to submit himself to the righteousness of God. When he does, God the Schoolmaster, brings him to Christ to be justified. Having surrendered to the justice of God in condemning him of his sins, and repenting of his sins, God can be just to justify him. Now God can rejoice in him because God destroyed his sin without having to destroy him. So, He sends to that son of Adam the blessedness He bestowed upon Abraham (Gal. 3:14), the “Spirit of His Son” (Gal. 4:6). A soul is reborn in God’s image, a new creation walks in His Spirit. His sins are blotted out. His heart is “sprinkled from an evil conscience, and [his body] washed with pure water.” (Heb. 10:22). There is “no more conscience of sins.” (Heb. 10:2). Life-giving, health-giving peace with God replaces the life-destroying, health-destroying separation from God.

But, if the condemned soul refuses to bow before the mighty power of God’s condemnation of sin, then the wrath of God continues. Most of the world suffers under this terrible mental condition. We both have experienced it. For everyone it can last a long time while they “pine away in their iniquity...and also in the iniquities of their fathers.” (Lev. 26:39). They refuse to surrender to the condemnation of God, therefore they cannot be brought to Jesus to receive the gift of God. And the wrath of God continues to abide on them. “Whosoever shall fall on this Stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever It shall fall, It will grind him to powder.” (Matt. 21:44).

In the horrible grinding we seek some other way of escape beside surrendering to the righteousness of God. Seeing our dishonesty with the Spirit of truth, Satan comes to offer his substitute system to relieve the guilt and condemnation. Satan’s absolution always gets the conscience to go to sleep--either through a chemical substance, or a religious doctrine, or a psychic experience. I see that, from the beginning, Satan has pawned off the 3rd person of a trinity as a religious doctrine and even a psychic experience. The damnation of Babylon has been, from the earliest times, the wine of her fornication. Her fornication was her false doctrines, her smooth religious repetitive mantras, and her hypnotic and redundant sacraments. Today her Catholic spiritual exercises, which brings the mind of the votive in direct contact with her devils purporting to be God, is spreading all over the Evangelical denominations. And that mystery of iniquity, under the same name of Spiritual Formation, is starting to enter the Adventist church.

There has never been redemption through anything that Catholicism ever offered, any more than what Islam or Hinduism or Buddhism, etc. ever offered. The worshipers have only a mental flush and an empty emotional feeling. They offer no power to have victory over sin. God’s truth or condemnation of sin are never permitted to enter those religions or worship practices, and those religions know nothing about the Son of God who is a Saviour and a Prince, the Prince of peace and the Man of war. I see the 3rd person of the Trinity as a competitor who substitutes himself for the 2nd Person. The 3rd person has grace and only grace. That in itself should stand out with red flags all over the place. Neither God nor His Son have ever offered grace and only grace. Both God and His Son are for both justice and mercy, truth and grace. Never one with the other: never justice/truth without mercy/grace, and never mercy/grace without justice/truth. But Astoreth, Astarte, Artemis, Diana, Venus, Mary, Isis, and the other chief female gods offered only grace. And the people flocked to them. Today the whole Christian world worships, prays to, and thereby subtly exalts the Holy Spirit above the Father and Son.

“Moreover ye see and hear, that not alone at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul hath persuaded and turned away much people, saying that they be no gods, which are made with hands:
So that not only this our craft is in danger to be set at nought; but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised, and her magnificence should be destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worshippeth.
And when they heard these sayings, they were full of wrath, and cried out, saying, Great is Diana of the Ephesians.
And the whole city was filled with confusion.” (Acts 19:26-29).

Demetrius was speaking the pure truth about the Holy Spirit, “whom all Asia and the world worshippeth.” The church turned away from the Father and Son during the first three centuries, and lost the gift of Their holy Spirit. They lost the experience in the things of God, and that is when God’s holy gift of His Spirit became mental assent to some fictional person in the Godhead. The great apostasy and mystery of iniquity involved the bringing of the greatest of all blasphemies into Christian doctrine when the church completely bowed to Satan in the late AD 300’s. Sunday was willingly welcomed in by the sin-loving multitudes, and then on the heels of apostasy came another blasphemy—Mary and the Holy Spirit, as alternative intercessors who were trusted in to be gracious more than Jesus. That was grace without ever having submitted to the righteousness of God and been made guilty and humbled before Him.

We have only one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus (1Tim. 2:5). We have one Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous (1Jn. 2:1). He is our only Intercessor, and ever lives to make intercession for us (Heb. 7:25). Should the one biblical, divine Mediator need another divine Mediator? Should the 2nd Person of the Godhead need an intercessor in a 3rd person? Or, can our Intercessor and Mediator not handle the job of reconciling us to God and God to us? Romans 5:10 says that Christ reconciled us to God by His death. 2 Corinthians 5:18,19 say the same thing. Does Jesus have all power (authority) to save the world as He said He did?

The Spirit is “the Spirit of God”, “the Spirit which is of God”, “His Spirit”, “the Spirit of your Father”, and “the Spirit of His Son”, “the Spirit of Christ”, “the Spirit of Jesus Christ”, “My Spirit”, “the Spirit of the Lord” that give life—“the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus”. “This is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” (1Jn. 5:11,12). The Spirit is the Son’s kiss of life/breath of life into our spirit, and our acceptance of the Son’s kiss.

_______, I didn’t mean to overwhelm you with all this. I know that all of my persuasiveness has never changed anyone’s mind about anything. But, I feel it my privilege and duty to warn others of a doctrine that is probably the greatest and final error of Rome to be renounced and protested before Jesus returns in power. Anti-trinitarianism is not a new idea for me, but it began to come together more and more as I studied Revelation, beginning with Rev. 5:6. I have woven anti-trinitarianism throughout my book, and it may be the reason my book doesn’t sell. It could also result in tribulation for me. I have never spoken ill about any other religion than Catholicism, but the issue against the Trinity could give me a world of trouble, because all religions have a trinity.

Thank you again for your concern for my eternal welfare. You are a true brother.
David

Living in communion

“But He answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” (Matt. 4:4).

Isn’t living in communion with God what Adam lost when he fell into sin? Before sin he had timeless peace with a Friend. Born with a nature that gravitated to his Creator, and surrounded by every evidence of his Creator’s power and love, Adam was happy, very happy. Eve, the crowning work of creation, revealed to Adam the epitome of creation’s glory. She offered the only thing creation fell short of—perfect companionship. Adam was united with his new world in many ways. The chemistry, the physics, the biology, the astronomy, the geology, the study of animal and plant, all were there for his intellectual pleasure. He even had communion with animals and plants; but, it was not enough. The spiritual union he had with them lacked in a way he couldn’t put his finger on.

Then, through spiritual discernment, when he understood that the animals and plants had their own special form of communion between male and female kinds, Adam realized what had been missing from his perfect happiness. He needed another like himself but not exactly like him; he needed another Adam of the other gender.

The Lord God revealed Himself and His Father in the creation of the first couple. And He illustrated His Father’s universe in miniature when He created the earth. When the Lord God chose this world it was a large, gaseous, rogue planet. Like Neptune, whose atmosphere is mostly water and whose core is the size of Earth, our planet needed a makeover to allow beauty and life to exist and be seen.

So, He condensed the water atmosphere of Earth, forming its gigantic ocean, its seas and lakes and rivers. Then He went to work forming the intricacies of life, right down to the molecule. He created it to be inhabited, ultimately placing two rulers over the glorious new creation, who would be figures of Himself and His Father. Now He had a sanctuary He could visit, a synagogue, a temporary dwelling, a sandbox. It was a world which He filled with His workmanship and with evidences of Himself. “Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD.” (Jer. 23:24). The earth was “full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.” (Isa. 11:9).

This His Father had done to the universe. The Father had brought together the stuff of space, molding the stars into galaxies and nebulae. He had decorated His own home and filled it with His workmanship and with evidences of Himself for the pleasure of the future hosts that would surround Him. It was His sanctuary, an extension of His throne, of Himself.

This was His great pleasure, but something was missing. He beheld the companionship between the stars and their planets. He comprehended a union, albeit mechanical, within galaxies and the nebulae, and realized His lack. He needed one like Himself, who would not be exactly the same. So after incomprehensible eons, He brought forth His firstborn Son, “the Beginning of the creation of God” (Rev. 3:14). His Prototokos was “the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature” (Col. 1:15); He was the essence of His Father condensed into a visible form. He was “the angel of the LORD” (Zech. 3:1), “Michael the archangel” (Jude 1:9). He was the Lord God, “the Lord of sabaoth” (Jas. 5:4), “the prince of the host” (Dan. 8:11). He was “the Prince of princes” (Dan. 8:25) and the “Prince of Peace.” (Isa. 9:6).

Now God’s communion was perfect. In His Son He found the epitome of perfection of His universe. Now the Father could be perfectly happy; and heaven could be perfectly joyful. “Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined.” (Ps. 50:2).

Plans were made to create a miniature, a corporeal representation of the happiness and glory of the heavenly home and its universe. The Father and Son came together for this most precious project after choosing one of Their innumerable rogue, gaseous planets. By His Father’s direction in the operation, the Son spoke everything of the earth into existence. The Son did as His Father had shown Him in the “holy mountain of God” (Eze. 28:14). “He spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast.” (Ps. 33:9).

“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.… That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent Him.… For as the Father hath life in Himself; so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself.” (John 5:19,20,23,26). “God…created all things by Jesus Christ.” (Eph. 3:9).

The earth represented to Adam the whole kingdom of God throughout the immensity of space. The Lord God had a personal relationship with the land, as His Father had with the first dominion—His universe of peace. “I [will] remember My covenant with Jacob, and also My covenant with Isaac, and also My covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the land. The land also shall be left of them, and shall enjoy her sabbaths, while she lieth desolate without them.” (Lev. 26:42,43). As earth’s land needed rest from being overworked, God’s whole universe has needed rest from the unrest caused by the sin problem.

“Thus saith the Lord GOD; In the day that I shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities I will also cause you to dwell in the cities, and the wastes shall be builded. And the desolate land shall be tilled, whereas it lay desolate in the sight of all that passed by. And they shall say, This land that was desolate is become like the Garden of Eden; and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are become fenced, and are inhabited. Then the heathen that are left round about you shall know that I the LORD build the ruined places, and plant that that was desolate: I the LORD have spoken it, and I will do it.” (Eze. 36:33-36).

Adam had exchanged his wondrous divine nature and glorious world for dry chaff. His new life and world would be nothingness, even less than nothing. All the glory that he had experienced disappeared, because God had ceased His communion with Adam. God could no longer enjoy the nature of Adam and Eve. The new self-indulgent, self-exalted spirit that filled their minds was a constant irritant to His selfless mind. His Spirit was at odds with theirs. Their spirit jarred His Spirit every moment. Their spirit was Satan’s spirit of hatefulness and implacable self-centeredness, adversarial to the love and joy that had once filled the universe until now. “The kingdom of God suffereth violence; and the violent take it by force.” (Matt. 11:12).

Sin brought immense pain to God and to His creation. “For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.” (Rom. 8:22). At every sight and sound and sense, Adam and Eve and their race caused God constant torture instead of constant pleasure. Instead of the previous unending joy, now all that Jehovah received from them was unending suffering and regret for having made the Human Race. And this was as Satan desired in order to wreak his revenge on God and His Son.

Vomiting his vendettas: “This is what they deserve for disrespecting Lucifer and dismissing Me from their presence! I’ll bring jehovah untold misery through those highly prized urchins until he has to destroy them! Jehovah always loved them better than me! He had dreamed of them, even before We the angels were created! He’ll know how I feel when I get even! And when he has destroyed these unworthy jars of clay, then I will heap My final vengeance on jehovah by proclaiming his hypocrisy. He always portrayed himself as gracious; and I will prove him to be otherwise when he destroys the human race which I will make utterly worthless! I will make him eternally miserable for what he has done to Me! I will destroy his credibility forever! jehovah and his precious son will burn forever, even forever and ever, in the fire of My making!”

Yet, despite Jehovah’s infinite misery, He remembers what He lost. He knows what He had with Adam and what can be again. He also knows His precious children of Adam are somewhat ignorant of why and to what extent they cause Him torment. Jehovah says, “They know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34). Our Father’s love toward us “suffereth long, and is kind.” (1Cor. 13:4).

Long before the run-in with Lucifer He had provided a way to win back the precious creation of His dreams. “All things are of God, who hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ…. To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them…. For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” (2Cor. 5:18,19,21).

Reconciliation is available to all of His children of Earth. The previous, perfect communion can be restored. Through His Son, the infinite God can once again hold blessed conversation with finite creatures of clay. Constant meditation and prayer—two way communion—returns to Adam’s dominion! Heaven is again reconnected with earth, scarred humanity with divinity that it helped to eternally damage!

Oh, the condescension of the Most High God to dwell again in vessels of valueless clay! The pristine King of heaven living in sanctuaries of Earth’s dust! From where does He derive that self-sacrificing pleasure? It will take the redeemed race an eternity to know. Oh, the depth of the riches of the humility and condescension of God! How unsearchable is His mercy, and His love past finding out!

In the Spirit, pt. 1

“I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day.” (Rev. 1:10). 

The best time to meet with Jesus is on His holy day, the Sabbath.

“If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words….” (Isa. 58:13).

“Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath.” (Mark 2:28). 

But, Satan has always had problems with the Sabbath because it offered humanity special privileges with God. All heaven gave special attention to the human children of God.

“Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made.” (Gen. 2:1-3).

After creating everything on the new planet during the first six days, God created the Sabbath on the seventh. He created a time to spend in communion with Adam and Eve. Before the first day of labor began, God offered rest. Rest in Him. There was no need for physical rest, because Adam had yet done no labor. This was nurturing, the nursing of a mother to her newborn, after her labor. Was there labor involved in Adam by his coming into existence? Probably not. But, there was labor involved in his cooperating to bring Eve into existence. There was the stress of looking for his mate among the other animals, and finding none. That was work. That was labor. Adam labored on the sixth day.

Now he could rest from the anxiety of not having a helpmeet, a companion to do things together, go places together, talk together. A constant friend and helper, Eve was a counselor and the only object on earth upon whom he could bestow his supreme regard.

That Sabbath became the first of 313,034 weekly Sabbaths since. It was not only a whole day of communion with each other, but especially a day of communion with their Maker. All day, every Sabbath, they were in the Spirit because Jesus was walking with them. And in His presence was fullness of joy.

Each day can be like the Sabbath. Yet, each day is cumbered with the cares of this life, and burdened with stresses that distract from the fuller communion with Jesus on His day of rest. We must work. Work is a blessing. But the greatest blessing of all throughout the week in between Sabbaths, is knowing that the Sabbath is coming. “Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest.” (Heb. 4:11). The Sabbath rest is never so good than after six days of labor.

But, Jesus’ rest is more than physical. It is spiritual rest. “We have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.” (1Jn. 4:16). Love and trust are twins. Trust permits the nerves to be calm, and trust consummates that peace in the expression of love. There are no threats in trust and no fears in love. The only fear is that we lose the peace and rest in God. “Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into His rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.” (Heb. 4:1).

This is what being in the Spirit is all about. John in the Spirit was him dwelling in God, abiding in Christ, living in Their love. The eternal Spirit is that love eternally. It is eternal life that begins at the new birth in Christ.

“Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we Him no more. Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ.” (2Cor. 5:16-18).

Being in the Spirit means to be in Christ. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.” (Eph. 1:3).

The Spirit is synonymous with God and His only begotten Son.

“The LORD possessed Me in the beginning of His way, before His works of old.

I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was.

When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water.

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

While as yet He had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world.

When He prepared the heavens, I was there: when He set a compass upon the face of the depth:

When He established the clouds above: when He strengthened the fountains of the deep:

When He gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass His commandment: 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;

Rejoicing in the habitable part of His earth; and My delights were with the sons of men.” (Prov. 8:22-31).

“Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” (Gen. 1:26). “This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him; male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.” (Gen. 5:1,2).

 To be in Christ is to be in the Spirit. And this is for everyone who will go for it. “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.” (Rom. 8:9,10).

John beheld “what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God.” (1Jn. 3:1). And marveling, John entered deeper and deeper into thoughts of God’s love that he had seen while he had spent his life walking with his Master. The heat of the sun and the things of earth disappeared; the endless sea ceased to imprison him. This world’s troubles went silent; the gnawing hunger and thirst faded away. The concerns for the churches dampened. Hour after hour on that Sabbath day, John’s peace deepened while he went deeper into faith and love for his Master. He was in the Spirit; he was in the Prince  Messiah. He had the Son.

John’s yearning moved God to send Jesus to the lonely exile, and the Revelation came to him. Jesus gave John the special gift of His future secrets as a reward for the disciple’s faith and love for Him. The last father of the church received that special benefit of inspiration not because he was a mighty figure who could sit stately upon an earthly throne of gold. The heavenly benediction came to John as he sat on a rock, living off of vegetation, grimy, dressed in filthy rags, and sleeping on the bare ground. The Revelation filled with promise came because of persecution.

“I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.” (Rev. 1:9).

Jesus is always “full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14). If He blesses a person or a nation with great grace, He must balance that with great testing truth. Otherwise, the grace is not appreciated. After Jesus has tested His people by a stressful test and they endure it faithfully, then He can bless them with His special self-revelation. “The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever.” (Deut. 29:29).

The blessed communion that came out of the horrific persecution prepared John for the special revelation that Sabbath day. John had proven himself to be faithful to the core. His big test accomplished, the Lord could reward him with a message to the church throughout the centuries to come. “For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew Himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him.” (2Chron. 16:9).

Will we suffer the loss of everything in exchange for a visit from Jesus by His Spirit? Would we do anything to hear His voice through His Spirit? Would we let His Father’s Law grind on our consciences in order for the His angels to escort us to His Son, so we can become His disciple? Would we allow our idols to be taken away in exchange for time spent together with the holy One? Would we too like to be in the Spirit, and also see Jesus? “Every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on Him” “hath life.” (John 6:40; 1Jn. 5:12).

“And the Spirit [of the Bridegroom] and the bride say, Come.” (Rev. 22:17).

“Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matt. 11:28).

“Christ…is our life.” (Col. 3:4).

 “And if Christ be in you, [sin that is in] the body is dead…; but [Christ’s] Spirit is life because of righteousness.” (Rom. 8:10).

“This is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.” (1Jn. 5:11).

In the Spirit, pt. 2

“In Thy presence is fulness of joy.” (Ps. 16:11).

What is it like to be in the Spirit of Christ? Is it boring? Is it depressing? Does it cause sadness? Is it “an horror of great darkness”? (Gen. 15:12).

No. It is pleasant and wholesome. It is life-giving, health-giving happiness. It is fullness of joy and peace, hope and power. “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.” (Rom. 15:13). “Thou wilt shew me the path of life: …at Thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” (Ps. 16:11).

This fullness in the Spirit by the presence of Jesus is not something we can manufacture. It is “the gift of God.” (John 4:10). It is sent from above. “Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again [G509 anōthen, “from above”], he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3).

Like “living water” (John 4:10), the Spirit is refreshing. It brings back hope to our hearts and brightness to our minds. We are born anew. “Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” (John 3:5). And the invitation to all is to drink without reservation of this heavenly gift from Jesus. “And the Spirit [of Christ] 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. 22:17). “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.” (John 7:39).

All the privileged seekers after Jesus “have tasted of the heavenly gift, ...were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come.” (Heb. 6:4,5). “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?” (Luke 11:13). “The meek shall eat and be satisfied: they shall praise the LORD that seek Him: your heart shall live for ever.” (Ps. 22:26).

Nothing good will be withheld from all who have come to Jesus for His justification and peace. “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” (Jas. 1:17). “For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly.” (Ps. 84:11).

The encouraging and emboldening gift of Jesus’ Spirit from above He abundantly showers upon His children during times of trouble and persecution. “Ye became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost.” (1Thess. 1:6). He comes that, by His own Spirit, “they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10). Therefore, the endangered church can say, “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.” (2Cor. 4:8-10).

God’s Spirit has always enthralled the hosts of heaven, evoking from them praise, only joyful praise. “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” (Luke 2:14).

“And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of His glory.” (Isa. 6:3).

“And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing. And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.” (Rev. 5:11-13).

Like the sweetness of honey, the “righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost” (Rom. 14:17) has filled every prophet. The infinite acceptance and forgetting of past sins leave the prophet in possession of great happiness. The love from the Spirit of Christ constrains such a person to go into any amount of danger. “The Spirit driveth him into the wilderness” (Mark 1:12) of persecution and perplexity, tribulation and trouble. But, none of that difficulty weakens the constant happiness and peace of the messenger of the Lord. Nothing gives more pleasure to that blessed soul than to go where the One sends him who is constantly anointing him with peace. He has special discernment and senses that God is near to protect.

“And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged. Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.” (Isa. 6:7,8).

“And the Spirit entered into me when He spake unto me, and set me upon my feet, that I heard Him that spake unto me.

And He said unto me, Son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that hath rebelled against Me: they and their fathers have transgressed against Me, even unto this very day.

For they are impudent children and stiffhearted. I do send thee unto them; and thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD.

And they, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear, (for they are a rebellious house,) yet shall know that there hath been a prophet among them.

And thou, son of man, be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns be with thee, and thou dost dwell among scorpions: be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house….
 

Moreover He said unto me, Son of man, eat that thou findest; eat this roll, and go speak unto the house of Israel.

So I opened my mouth, and He caused me to eat that roll.

And He said unto me, Son of man, cause thy belly to eat, and fill thy bowels with this roll that I give thee. Then did I eat it; and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness.

Behold, I have made thy face strong against their faces, and thy forehead strong against their foreheads.

As an adamant harder than flint have I made thy forehead: fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house.” (Eze. 2:2-6; Eze. 3:1-3,8,9).

Despite the dangers, the person who has God’s wonderful Spirit lives constrained to give his life for those God is trying to save.

The Spirit of God transforms the heart of sinful man. “And the Spirit of the LORD will come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be turned into another man.” (1Sam. 10:6). Drinking of the water of life freely, Saul couldn’t hold back his confession of the goodness of God. He was on a high that was not damaging to his nervous system or brain. It came from the Source of life, and increased health came to Saul as a result.

“And it was so, that when he had turned his back to go from Samuel, God gave him another heart: and all those signs came to pass that day. And when they came thither to the hill, behold, a company of prophets met him; and the Spirit of God came upon him, and he prophesied among them.” (1Sam. 10:9,10).

This is the power of the Spirit that the Lord Jesus has over those He gifts with His divine nature. Even after King Saul’s permanent falling away from that beautiful experience, and finding it impossible “to renew [him] again unto repentance” (Heb. 6:6), God could choose to give a demonstration of His Spirit for a teaching moment. After an “evil spirit from God came upon Saul” (1Sam. 18:10) which drove him to spend the last years of his remaining probation trying to destroy David, at his final attempt the king was stopped short by the joyful, strong hand of the Lord upon him.

“And Saul sent messengers to take David: and when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as appointed over them, the Spirit of God was upon the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied.

And when it was told Saul, he sent other messengers, and they prophesied likewise. And Saul sent messengers again the third time, and they prophesied also.

Then went he also to Ramah, and came to a great well that is in Sechu: and he asked and said, Where are Samuel and David? And one said, Behold, they be at Naioth in Ramah.

And he went thither to Naioth in Ramah: and the Spirit of God was upon him also, and he went on, and prophesied, until he came to Naioth in Ramah.

And he stripped off his clothes also, and prophesied before Samuel in like manner, and lay down naked all that day and all that night. Wherefore they say, Is Saul also among the prophets?” (1Sam. 19:20-24). Saul’s heart and soul were tickled. He was temporarily converted.

This is significant. God will pour His holy Spirit upon even His enemies. And when His Spirit thrills them, they completely lose their devils. They sit in heavenly places in Christ. Isn’t this transformation from a carnal nature to a heavenly what conversion is about? The Son of the Highest is raising a standard against His adversary. He is wrestling not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers. “Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.” (Rom. 7:20). “Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? ...God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Rom. 7:20).

“And wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him: and he foameth, and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away. Jesus...rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him.  And the spirit cried....” (Mark 9:18).

“When the even was come, they brought unto Him many that were possessed with devils: and He cast out the spirits with His word, and healed all that were sick.” (Matt. 8:16).

“And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out,

Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with Thee, Thou Jesus of Nazareth? Art Thou come to destroy us? I know Thee who Thou art, the Holy One of God.

And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him.

And when the unclean spirit had torn him, and cried with a loud voice, he came out of him.

And they were all amazed, insomuch that they questioned among themselves, saying, What thing is this? what new doctrine is this? for with authority commandeth He even the unclean spirits, and they do obey Him.” (Mark 1:23-27).

“And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people. And His fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto Him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatick, and those that had the palsy; and He healed them.” (Matt. 4:23,24).

The fierce, proud demons were stumbling over themselves to get away from Jesus, but the goodness of God forced them to remain, long enough to request His permission to leave.

“And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with Thee, Jesus, Thou Son of God? Art thou come hither to torment us before the time?

And there was a good way off from them an herd of many swine feeding.

So the devils besought Him, saying, If Thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine.

And He said unto them, Go. And when they were come out, they went into the herd of swine: and, behold, the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters.” (Matt. 8:29-32).

Polite demons? Submissive evil spirits? Devils constrained by righteousness? Converted for a moment? They were made submissive because of the presence of the meek One. Just like the possessed King Saul.

This throws light on a statement of Paul’s that I have often wondered about:

“Wherefore God also hath highly exalted [Jesus], and given Him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Phil. 2:9-11). 

Even Lucifer bows? Listen to Ellen White’s statements on Satan’s strange behavior:

“In that vast throng are multitudes of the long-lived race that existed before the Flood; men of lofty stature and giant intellect, who, yielding to the control of fallen angels, devoted all their skill and knowledge to the exaltation of themselves; men whose wonderful works of art led the world to idolize their genius, but whose cruelty and evil inventions, defiling the earth and defacing the image of God, caused Him to blot them from the face of His creation. There are kings and generals who conquered nations, valiant men who never lost a battle, proud, ambitious warriors whose approach made kingdoms tremble. In death these experienced no change. As they come up from the grave, they resume the current of their thoughts just where it ceased. They are actuated by the same desire to conquer that ruled them when they fell.

     Satan consults with his angels, and then with these kings and conquerors and mighty men. They look upon the strength and numbers on their side, and declare that the army within the city is small in comparison with theirs, and that it can be overcome. They lay their plans to take possession of the riches and glory of the New Jerusalem. All immediately begin to prepare for battle. Skillful artisans construct implements of war. Military leaders, famed for their success, marshal the throngs of warlike men into companies and divisions.  

     At last the order to advance is given, and the countless host moves on--an army such as was never summoned by earthly conquerors, such as the combined forces of all ages since war began on earth could never equal. Satan, the mightiest of warriors, leads the van, and his angels unite their forces for this final struggle. Kings and warriors are in his train, and the multitudes follow in vast companies, each under its appointed leader. With military precision the serried ranks advance over the earth’s broken and uneven surface to the City of God. By command of Jesus, the gates of the New Jerusalem are closed, and the armies of Satan surround the city and make ready for the onset.

     Now Christ again appears to the view of His enemies. Far above the city, upon a foundation of burnished gold, is a throne, high and lifted up. Upon this throne sits the Son of God, and around Him are the subjects of His kingdom. The power and majesty of Christ no language can describe, no pen portray. The glory of the Eternal Father is enshrouding His Son. The brightness of His presence fills the City of God, and flows out beyond the gates, flooding the whole earth with its radiance.  

     Nearest the throne are those who were once zealous in the cause of Satan, but who, plucked as brands from the burning, have followed their Saviour with deep, intense devotion. Next are those who perfected Christian characters in the midst of falsehood and infidelity, those who honored the law of God when the Christian world declared it void, and the millions, of all ages, who were martyred for their faith. And beyond is the ‘great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, . . . before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands.’ Revelation 7:9. Their warfare is ended, their victory won. They have run the race and reached the prize. The palm branch in their hands is a symbol of their triumph, the white robe an emblem of the spotless righteousness of Christ which now is theirs.  

     The redeemed raise a song of praise that echoes and re-echoes through the vaults of heaven: ‘Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.’ Verse 10. And angel and seraph unite their voices in adoration. As the redeemed have beheld the power and malignity of Satan, they have seen, as never before, that no power but that of Christ could have made them conquerors. In all that shining throng there are none to ascribe salvation to themselves, as if they had prevailed by their own power and goodness. Nothing is said of what they have done or suffered; but the burden of every song, the keynote of every anthem, is: Salvation to our God and unto the Lamb.

     In the presence of the assembled inhabitants of earth and heaven the final coronation of the Son of God takes place. And now, invested with supreme majesty and power, the King of kings pronounces sentence upon the rebels against His government and executes justice upon those who have transgressed His law and oppressed His people. Says the prophet of God: ‘I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.’ Revelation 20:11, 12.” Great Controversy, p. 664-666.

“As if entranced, the wicked have looked upon the coronation of the Son of God. They see in His hands the tables of the divine law, the statutes which they have despised and transgressed. They witness the outburst of wonder, rapture, and adoration from the saved; and as the wave of melody sweeps over the multitudes without the city, all with one voice exclaim, ‘Great and marvelous are Thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are Thy ways, Thou King of saints’ (Revelation 15:3); and, falling prostrate, they worship the Prince of life.  

     Satan seems paralyzed as he beholds the glory and majesty of Christ. He who was once a covering cherub remembers whence he has fallen. A shining seraph, ‘son of the morning;’ how changed, how degraded! From the council where once he was honored, he is forever excluded. He sees another now standing near to the Father, veiling His glory. He has seen the crown placed upon the head of Christ by an angel of lofty stature and majestic presence, and he knows that the exalted position of this angel might have been his.  

     Memory recalls the home of his innocence and purity, the peace and content that were his until he indulged in murmuring against God, and envy of Christ. His accusations, his rebellion, his deceptions to gain the sympathy and support of the angels, his stubborn persistence in making no effort for self-recovery when God would have granted him forgiveness --all come vividly before him. He reviews his work among men and its results--the enmity of man toward his fellow man, the terrible destruction of life, the rise and fall of kingdoms, the overturning of thrones, the long succession of tumults, conflicts, and revolutions. He recalls his constant efforts to oppose the work of Christ and to sink man lower and lower. He sees that his hellish plots have been powerless to destroy those who have put their trust in Jesus. As Satan looks upon his kingdom, the fruit of his toil, he sees only failure and ruin. He has led the multitudes to believe that the City of God would be an easy prey; but he knows that this is false. Again and again, in the progress of the great controversy, he has been defeated and compelled to yield. He knows too well the power and majesty of the Eternal.

     The aim of the great rebel has ever been to justify himself and to prove the divine government responsible for the rebellion. To this end he has bent all the power of his giant intellect. He has worked deliberately and systematically, and with marvelous success, leading vast multitudes to accept his version of the great controversy which has been so long in progress. For thousands of years this chief of conspiracy has palmed off falsehood for truth. But the time has now come when the rebellion is to be finally defeated and the history and character of Satan disclosed. In his last great effort to dethrone Christ, destroy His people, and take possession of the City of God, the archdeceiver has been fully unmasked. Those who have united with him see the total failure of his cause. Christ’s followers and the loyal angels behold the full extent of his machinations against the government of God. He is the object of universal abhorrence.  

     Satan sees that his voluntary rebellion has unfitted him for heaven. He has trained his powers to war against God; the purity, peace, and harmony of heaven would be to him supreme torture. His accusations against the mercy and justice of God are now silenced. The reproach which he has endeavored to cast upon Jehovah rests wholly upon himself. And now Satan bows down and confesses the justice of his sentence.  
      ‘Who shall not fear Thee, O Lord, and glorify Thy name? for Thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before Thee; for Thy judgments are made manifest.’” Ibid., p. 670.

“Notwithstanding that Satan has been constrained to acknowledge God’s justice and to bow to the supremacy of Christ, his character remains unchanged. The spirit of rebellion, like a mighty torrent, again bursts forth. Filled with frenzy, he determines not to yield the great controversy. The time has come for a last desperate struggle against the King of heaven. He rushes into the midst of his subjects and endeavors to inspire them with his own fury and arouse them to instant battle.” Ibid., p. 671.

The enemies’ moments of conversion don’t last long, for conversion was put upon them against their will. They never strove to enter in through the strait gate; they never wrestled against their sinful natures in order to be converted. Like King Saul who stumbled upon his conversion, the whole host of the wicked know the fullness of joy only long enough for them to glorify God at their very end. They taste of the goodness that they could have enjoyed all their lives--“the Spirit of the living God.” (2Cor. 3:3). Theirs could have been the very same diet for their soul that fed Jesus. “Butter and honey shall He eat, that He may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good.” (Isa. 7:15).

And the ingestion of that holy manna would have overthrown their idols and changed their lives. They experience “the powers of the world to come” (Heb. 6:5), but only long enough to realize their big mistake. They will know what they lost, and “there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matt. 22:13).

“Then said the King to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness.” (Matt. 22:13). Let’s not have that happen to us. Let’s strive to submit to the righteousness of God and His rightful chastisement of our peace. Then when He gives us to His Son (who “will in no wise cast [us] out”), let’s strive to know His Son. Let us strive to abide in Him; let us live in His Spirit. Let us refuse any other Spirit than “the Spirit of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:19). And our wrestling will never end until we are safely sitting on the walls of Zion looking out over Satan and his hosts.

“There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into His rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from His. Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.” (Heb. 4:9-11).

The spirit of Moses

“And the LORD said unto Moses, Gather unto Me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom thou knowest to be the elders of the people, and officers over them; and bring them unto the tabernacle of the congregation, that they may stand there with thee.
And I will come down and talk with thee there: and I will take of the spirit which is upon thee, and will put it upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with thee, that thou bear it not thyself alone.…

And Moses went out, and told the people the words of the LORD, and gathered the seventy men of the elders of the people, and set them round about the tabernacle.

And the LORD came down in a cloud, and spake unto him, and took of the spirit that was upon him, and gave it unto the seventy elders: and it came to pass, that, when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied, and did not cease.

But there remained two of the men in the camp, the name of the one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad: and the spirit rested upon them; and they were of them that were written, but went not out unto the tabernacle: and they prophesied in the camp.

And there ran a young man, and told Moses, and said, Eldad and Medad do prophesy in the camp.

And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Moses, one of his young men, answered and said, My lord Moses, forbid them.

And Moses said unto him, Enviest thou for my sake? would God that all the LORD’S people were prophets, and that the LORD would put His Spirit upon them!

And Moses gat him into the camp, he and the elders of Israel.” (Num. 11:16,17,24-30).

I have always found this intriguing that the Lord would take of Moses’ spirit in order to anoint the 70 elders. Why didn’t He take of His own Spirit to anoint them? Because, Moses’ spirit was the Lord’s Spirit. Moses had been “filled with all the fulness of God.” (Eph. 3:19). “And the LORD spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend.” (Ex. 33:11).

“Hear now My words: If there be a prophet among you, I the LORD will make Myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream. My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all Mine house. With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the LORD shall he behold” (Num. 12:6-8). “(Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.)” (vs. 3).

Moses had been anointed with the Spirit of God. He was more than a prophet. And the anointing the Lord gave the 70 elders was taken from Moses because the Lord needed to place the people’s trust in him as the designated leader from God. Moses was chosen by God to be their tutor and governor.

“Moses commanded us a law, even the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob. And he was king in Jeshurun, when the heads of the people and the tribes of Israel were gathered together.” (Deut. 33:4,5).

Like his Lord, “Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.” (Ps. 45:7). Surrounded by 70 others with the same Spirit, Moses could lead Israel to the heart and mind that would be required to take Canaan, and re-establish the holiness and righteousness of God in His land.

What does this say about the Spirit? It was super-natural. But that didn’t necessarily mean it was from God. This concept is what made Joshua implore Moses to forbid the prophesying that happened to the 70 elders, especially by the two out in the camp. The prophesying was out of the ordinary and he must have suspected an Egyptian-style apostatizing. It defied good discipline and order. The elder men shouldn’t be full of “light, power, …and sweet love, joy, and peace.” Early Writings, p. 55. The men shouldn’t be so happy and noisy about it.

“O God, when thou wentest forth before Thy people, when Thou didst march through the wilderness; Selah:

The earth shook, the heavens also dropped at the presence of God: even Sinai itself was moved at the presence of God, the God of Israel.

Thou, O God, didst send a plentiful rain, whereby Thou didst confirm Thine inheritance, when it was weary.

Thy congregation hath dwelt therein: Thou, O God, hast prepared of Thy goodness for the poor.

The Lord gave the word: great was the company of those that published it.

Kings of armies did flee apace: and she that tarried at home divided the spoil.

Though ye have lien among the pots, yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold.

When the Almighty scattered kings in it, it was white as snow in Salmon.

The hill of God is as the hill of Bashan; an high hill as the hill of Bashan.

Why leap ye, ye high hills? this is the hill which God desireth to dwell in; yea, the LORD will dwell in it for ever.

The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels: the Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place.

Thou hast ascended on high, Thou hast led captivity captive: Thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the LORD God might dwell among them.

Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah.” (Ps. 68:7-19).

But, the 70 elders only tasted a little of what Moses and David had drunk to the full. “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). When we continue in the Lord’s word and keep His commandments, we are His disciples indeed and His truth will make us free from earthly limitations and human-invented restrictions. Without any bondage we love the Law and soar above the sin-imposed constraints of this dark world.

Moses was a type of Christ. As Moses only spoke face to face with Christ and heard Him in the shekinah cloud, “from off the mercy seat that was upon the ark of testimony, from between the two cherubims: and he spake unto Him.” (Num. 7:89). Likewise has only Christ forever spoken face to face with God the Father. As Moses laid down his eternal life for his beloved rebellious people in Exodus 32:30-32, so did Christ in Gethsemane. And as Moses’ life of service was consummated on Pisgah because of the provocations of the people, so did Christ on Golgotha, yet without sin. “This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me.” (Acts 7:37). “The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto Him ye shall hearken;… I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put My words in His mouth; and He shall speak unto them all that I shall command Him.” (Deut. 18:15-18).

Moses was Christ in similitude. And as Christ took of Moses’ Spirit, which He had bestowed upon him, and gave it to the leadership of the children of Israel, so did God the Father take of Christ’s Spirit and gave it to His newly established church of the remnant Jews. Without measure He had bestowed His Spirit upon His Son to give it in all power to His apostles, for the leadership of the Gentile children of God, even for the most unclean lepers and devil-possessed who wanted to receive the mercy of God through His Prince Messiah.

“But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.

Wherefore He saith, When He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.

(Now that He ascended, what is it but that He also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?

He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that He might fill all things.)

And He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;

For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:

Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.” (Eph. 4:7-13).

This abundant Spirit was the gift from Christ in His heavenly sanctuary. “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. 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. 1:10-12). This same dispensation of the Spirit of Christ upon the prophets in the Old Testament was the Holy Ghost that was sent down from heaven. “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.” (2Per. 1:21).

Notice that Peter makes the Spirit of Christ synonymous with the Holy Ghost. It is the Spirit of Christ that poured down upon the prophets of old, just as It did upon the New Testament church. We see this also in the symbolism of Revelation. “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).

But, the idea of Moses losing some of his spirit undermines the idea that what Moses had was a person, the third person of a Trinity and co-equal with the other co-equals, Father and Son. The Spirit in Moses lends Itself more so to being spiritual fruit of meekness, the “the gift of God,… living water.…”, a blessed rest from Jesus, “His rest” (Heb. 4:1,10,11) for the soul; and not a third being of a Trinity. Of the Spirit Jesus said, “Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” (John 4:10,14, cf John 7:37-39). That is what the 70 elders received. They received the water of life, the “refreshing…from the presence of the Lord.” (Acts 3:19). Refreshing from the presence of Christ, not the presence of a third person.

“And the Spirit [(of the Bridegroom)] 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. 22:17). At His wedding, the Bridegroom turns earthly water into heavenly wine, earthly life (which is death) into eternal life. This He does when we’ve finally grown weary of this world’s abundant fraudulent promises of happiness and the good life.

Disillusioned with this world, we say to Him, “Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but Thou hast kept the good wine until now.” (John 2:10). Jesus saves the best for last; and the best He gives comes straight off His fiat winepress. The best is what Moses, David, and the 70 elders drank. And they couldn’t keep quiet about it, not even Eldad and Medad could be shushed among the multitudes. Out in that hot desert the 70 were drinking something refreshing they had never had before. They were drinking salvation from “the Spirit of Jesus Christ.” (Phil. 1:19). “Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.” (Isa. 12:3). The Spirit that He gave them was springing up into everlasting life.

“Every true disciple is born into the kingdom of God as a missionary. No sooner does he come to know the Saviour than he desires to make others acquainted with Him. The saving and sanctifying truth cannot be shut up in his heart. He who drinks of the living water becomes a fountain of life. The receiver becomes a giver. The grace of Christ in the soul is like a spring in the desert, welling up to refresh all, and making those who are ready to perish eager to drink of the water of life.” Ministry of Healing, p. 102.

The transfer of “the Spirit of Christ” (Rom. 8:9) from Moses to the elders we see in the New Testament also. Paul knew Timothy “to be [a leader] of the people, and [an officer] over them” (Num. 11:16). He wrote, “When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also.” (2Tim. 1:5). When this New Testament Moses had laid his hands on Timothy the youthful elder received a free, indomitable mind. “Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands. For God hath not given us the Spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” (2Tim. 1:6,7). The Spirit of Christ is the Spirit of “power, and of love, and of a sound mind”. The prophecy concerning Jesus was that “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.” (Isa. 11:2). Paul passed Christ’s Spirit on to Timothy.

Another recipient of the Spirit from Christ in Moses was Joshua.

“And the LORD said unto Moses, Take thee Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay thine hand upon him;
And set him before Eleazar the priest, and before all the congregation; and give him a charge in their sight.
And thou shalt put some of thine honour upon him, that all the congregation of the children of Israel may be obedient.
And he shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall ask counsel for him after the judgment of Urim before the LORD: at his word shall they go out, and at his word they shall come in, both he, and all the children of Israel with him, even all the congregation.
And Moses did as the LORD commanded him: and he took Joshua, and set him before Eleazar the priest, and before all the congregation:
And he laid his hands upon him, and gave him a charge, as the LORD commanded by the hand of Moses.” (Num. 27:18).
“And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom; for Moses had laid his hands upon him: and the children of Israel hearkened unto him, and did as the LORD commanded Moses.” (Deut. 34:9). 

But, Joshua didn’t receive the Spirit of Moses until he could recognize the full and true manifestation of the Lord’s Spirit. Joshua must know the word of the Lord for himself, through his service to the Lord. The up and coming leader must learn to not deny His God’s presence whenever He chooses to manifest Himself through His designated servants, as in the case of the 70 elders. “And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Moses, one of his young men, answered and said, My lord Moses, forbid them. And Moses said unto him, Enviest thou for my sake? would God that all the LORD’s people were prophets, and that the LORD would put his spirit upon them!” (Num. 11:28,29). It seemed to Joshua that the 70 were robbing Moses of his glory and competing for his power. But, Moses wasn’t the least concerned, because he knew that the Lord had directed it.

 “And [Moses] said, The LORD came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; He shined forth from mount Paran, and He came with ten thousands of saints: from His right hand went a fiery law for them.

Yea, He loved the people; all His saints are in Thy hand: and they sat down at Thy feet; every one shall receive of Thy words.

Moses commanded us a law, even the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob.

And he was king in Jeshurun, when the heads of the people and the tribes of Israel were gathered together.” (Deut. 33:2-5).

The Lord wants all of His people to be prophets as soon as He can justify, sanctify, and unite His people under His statutes and laws. He has always desired a kingdom of prophets and a holy nation. 

We may not be a prophet on the order of Moses and Joshua, David and Solomon, or Paul and Timothy, but “in the Spirit” (Rev. 1:10) we can “sing of the mercies of the LORD for ever” (Ps. 89:1), especially on His seventh day Sabbath. We will have a new song in our mouth, “even praise unto our God.” (Ps. 40:3). Like the sons of the prophets, we will come “down from the high place with a psaltery, and a tabret, and a pipe, and a harp,” and with them in song we “shall prophesy” (1Sam. 10:5) and “be turned into another man” by “the Spirit of the LORD” (1Sam. 10:6).

“Follow after charity, and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy.… He that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort.… He that prophesieth edifieth the church. I would…that ye prophesied: for greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues, except he interpret, that the church may receive edifying.… Even so ye, forasmuch as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that ye may excel to the edifying of the church.… If all prophesy, and there come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all: and thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest; and so falling down on his face he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth.” (1Cor. 14:1,3-5,12,24,25).

The spirit of prophecy that Paul wanted to be seen in the churches was the Spirit had fallen upon Moses’ 70 elders. It was such a new thing that to Joshua it looked like blasphemous Egyptian demon possession. Yet it was not a cacophony; they acted in concord. “For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.”(1Cor. 14:33). And, even though they were outside the confines of the tabernacle, the rejoicing and expressions of Eldad and Medad from the presence of God were graceful and edifying. We don’t have to be confined to a church building to testify of the goodness of God. We can tell of His goodness out in the world. That’s what Jesus wanted to teach Israel, and it is what He did when He walked among us in the flesh.

Jehovah pouring His gift upon some among the unsanctified multitudes was a preview of the free gift falling on the first believers among Gentiles. Peter got Joshua’s same reaction by the church leaders. “When Peter was come up to Jerusalem, they that were of the circumcision contended with him.” (Acts 11:2). But, then he explained. “…And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the beginning. Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that He said, John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost. Forasmuch then as God gave them the like gift as He did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ; what was I, that I could withstand God? When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.” (vss. 15-18). The church elders who still emphasized circumcision hadn’t yet heard what Peter had heard, “What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.” (vs. 9). Similar to Joshua, the circumcised leaders still needed more circumcising of the heart and understanding of what the will of the Lord was.

The supernatural Spirit of Moses was the same Spirit of prophecy, and the same Spirit from Paul upon Timothy. Paul called it a cooperative element—“my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1Cor. 5:4), “the Spirit…of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” It was the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD. It is all that Jesus has to offer us. That is why Paul counseled, “covet to prophesy” (1Cor. 14:39).

“Those who take God’s word with reverence, seeking to learn His will that they may obey it, all is changed. They are filled with awe and wonder as they contemplate the purity and exalted excellence of the truths revealed. Like attracts like. Like appreciates like. Holiness allies itself with holiness, faith with faith. To the humble heart and the sincere, inquiring mind the Bible is full of light and knowledge. Those who come to the Scriptures in this spirit are brought into fellowship with prophets and apostles. Their spirit assimilates to that of Christ, and they long to become one with Him.” Testimonies for the church, vol. 5, p. 705.

As much as John was we should be “in the Spirit”. We should have the Law in our hearts so that it humbles our pride and brings us to Jesus for His Spirit. “And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.” (Gal. 4:6). And if we’ve been “kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed” (Gal. 3:23) then we can fall on the stone Law and be broken. And being broken, God will send to us the Spirit of His Son into our humbled hearts.

 “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.” (Rom. 8:1,2).

“For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit....

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.” (Rom. 8:5-10).

To be “in the Spirit” (Rev 1:10; Rom. 8:9) is to be “in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 3:24). It is to be “in the Lord.” (1Cor. 7:39; 11:11; Eph. 2:21; 5:8). “That in the dispensation of the fulness of times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in Him.” (Eph. 1:10). “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. And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be My people, and I will be your God.” (Eze. 36:26-28). When “we shall all be changed” (1Cor. 15:51), then we will forever be in the Spirit. “And they shall see His face; and His name shall be in their foreheads.” (Rev. 22:4).

“My heart rejoiceth in the LORD, mine horn is exalted in the LORD: my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies; because I rejoice in Thy salvation.” (1Sam. 2:1). “That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.” (1Cor. 1:31). “And now, little children, abide in Him.” (1Jn. 2:28).

“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.” (1Jn. 2:27). “And he that keepeth His commandments dwelleth in Him, and He in him. And hereby we know that He abideth in us, by the Spirit which He hath given us.” (1Jn. 3:24). “Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God.” (1Jn. 4:2). “Hereby know we that we dwell in Him, and He in us, because He hath given us of His Spirit.” (1Jn. 4:13). “Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.” (1Jn. 4:15,16).

We love God because He has given us the Spirit of love and power and of soundness of mind. We have a sound conversion. “Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. We love Him, because He first loved us.” (1Jn. 4:17-19).