05.03. THE SPIRIT IN RELATION TO THE INCARNATION, ATONEMENT AND INAUGURATION OF THE ...

THE SPIRIT IN RELATION TO THE INCARNATION, ATONEMENT AND INAUGURATION OF THE NEW ETERNAL SYSTEM. On the first page of the New Testament, the Holy Spirit comes before us as preparing a body for the Son. In prophetic language the Son had said, "The Lord God, and His Spirit, hath sent Me." Isaiah 48:16. The angel of the Lord said unto Joseph. "Fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost." Matthew 1:20. Previous to that, Gabriel appeared unto the Virgin Mary and said. "And behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a Son, and shalt call his name Jesus . . . . . . The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." Luke 1:31-35. In this the most profound of all miracles, the whole Trinity was engaged, and its repercussion was felt universally in heaven earth and hell. Our Lord was sent, sealed and sanctified by the Holy Spirit. He began His ministry from the Jordan, associating Himself with a remnant of His people in the Baptism of John. Here for the first time the whole Trinity are manifested and come within the cognisance of human sensibilities. The Son is owned by the Father and the Spirit rested on Him in the form of a dove. Observe in following this out, that He was sent or driven by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of Satan, and having bound the strong man there, He returned in the power of the Spirit to begin His itinerations through the land. Mark 1:12; Luke 4:14. In this service He declared the heart of God. God had been glorified in Him when, for thirty years of private life, the beauty of a man shone under His eye. The words of Psalms 16:1-11, are descriptive of the exercises of that time. He grew up before Jehovah as a tender plant and a root out of dry ground. There was nothing of an external nature to distinguish Him in the eyes of men. Isaiah 53:1-12. In His public service which covered about a tenth of the time spent in private, all was marked by the unction of the Holy Spirit. What He said and what He did, all His words and works were the work of the whole THREE. Matthew 12:28; John 14:10; Acts 10:38. This went on to the cross, where, through the eternal Spirit, He offered Himself without spot to God. Hebrews 9:14. During His ministry, certain ones had been brought back from the dead to life here again but His resurrection was the triumph of good over evil. It was the establishment of a new creation as part of divine purpose, and Scripture shows each member of the Holy Godhead at work in that mighty act. This intimacy and co-working of divine Persons still goes on as seen in His breathing into His disciples and saying Receive the Holy Spirit. His last charge to them was given by the power of the Spirit and also His last promise. John 20:22; Acts 1:2-5. Being now on the verge of the Spirit’s day, let us glance back to the outset of God’s time ways and note how the march of events was preparing for the coming of the Son which was followed by the coming of the Spirit. Whether we take History, Prophecy, Providence or Government, all was preparing for the accomplishment of His eternal purpose in the Son. His ancient dealings with Israel in the law, both in the moral code and in the ceremonial observances; the typical mysteries of the prophets, priests and kings — all was working towards the point we have now reached. The Son would be seen by the eye of faith, a Man in heaven in virtue of redemption and the Holy Spirit on earth in relation to the counsels of eternity. In the Gospels, Matthew goes back to Abraham and David, linking up the Son with promise and royalty. Mark presents Him as Jehovah the servant prophet. Luke takes us back to Eden, presenting the Son as the Second Man out of heaven. But John steps over the whole of history into eternity to show the Son is God, come down to fulfil His eternal plan. Hence in this Gospel, man is treated as a lost sinner from the outset. The two basic facts of the Gospel are, the exaltation of Christ in the rights of redemption, and the presence of the Holy Spirit on the earth. As it is said, a Man in heaven above is a new thing in divine dealings and the Spirit here to dwell in the believer a new thing as well. Instead of assuming a body as the Son did, He takes up His abode in the souls of believers and builds them together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. Ephesians 2:22. In the Gospel God is working according to pattern and this shows that not only has He been revealed but in the exaltation of Christ He has a complete answer to the revelation. All this should be seen as accomplished in the ascension of Christ from Whom the Holy Spirit came down to continue the work of affecting God’s Purpose.

We might speak of the pentecostal gift in many ways but it may be better to put it under three leading heads, namely, the Kingdom of God; the House of God; and the Body of Christ. These three were formed simultaneously by the coming of the Spirit. Believers stand in relation to the first in an individual way: in relation to the second collectively; and relation to the third corporately — Jew and Gentile as a joint-body in Christ. That the heavens do rule, man had to learn in early days (Daniel 4:26), but the kingdom of heaven is the Spirit’s domain. The kingdom of God was here in the person of the Son, but before it could be established as the kingdom of heaven the King must Himself have gone there. This is the sphere of divine rule on the earth, where the Lordship of Christ is the bond and from which goes out the Gospel of the glory of Christ. Within that kingdom, God has His dwelling place and, while Christ is Lord in the kingdom, He is Head in the House. John 8:35; Romans 14:9; Hebrews 3:6. Needless to say, we are far from material things here. The kingdom being spiritual, it provides a bulwark for the house and in that way is protective of the holy things of God — the precious things of heaven. Within that House is presented the innermost treasure of all, namely the mystery, or secret, which was hid in God — the truth of the Church as the Body and Bride of Christ. Moreover, it must be seen that the saints form both the Church militant, and the kingdom as a generation of faith. By the Spirit’s power they meet and defeat the opposing forces of evil, just as they form the House of God and stand in relation to His testimony in the world. In their relationship to Christ as members of His Body, they stand united to Him in organic union on the one hand, and as members one of another, one Body in Christ on the other.