THE HOLY SPIRIT’S SERVICE AMONG THE SAINTS IN THIS DISPENSATION

J. Mitchell

Acts 16: 6–10; Revelation 22: 17

I have an impression about the Holy Spirit’s service amongst us in the dispensation. Those of us who are a little older will recall the time in the unfolding of the mind of God when the Spirit objectively came before us, and that led to what we now enjoy as the worship of the Spirit publicly. A question has been asked as to the part that is given to the Spirit in the service of God and the fact that the Spirit objectively did not come before the saints until very late in the dispensation. That to me is a very affecting matter and I have thought a good deal about it. It indicates the place that the Spirit has taken amongst us, and it indicates the service that the Spirit has carried out in the economy for the Father and for the Son. You might say almost regardless of what is due to Himself, bearing in mind that He is equal with the Father and with the Son. In His Person He is God, but think of the place that He has taken in this revival at the end of the dispensation, keeping Himself in obscurity until well on, and that should affect us, and cause us to be concerned that we should give Him the place that is due to Him.

Indeed if you think of the section from which we have read in the Acts, you will see the force with which the Lord brings forward to His own, the place that the Spirit is to have in the spread of the truth. I think that is very affecting. Something else that affects me much are the relations between the Lord and the Spirit, the relations between the Father and the Spirit, and the way in which the Father and the Lord are concerned that the Spirit who, in the economy, has taken a more obscure position, should really have the place that is proper to Him, particularly at the close of the dispensation. Now one of the things that has marked Him, and I say this very carefully but I believe it is needed, and which clearly comes out in Acts 16, is that the Spirit is seen objectively first and the fact that He is in charge of the testimony.

That is a wonderful thing! I often think about it. If you go back over the whole of the dispensation and the way that the Spirit has been very largely neglected, overlooked in the considerations of men, even if I may venture to say in the considerations of Christians, and yet He was content to go on serving the saints of the assembly in a hidden, obscure way, not drawing attention to Himself but drawing attention to Christ and to the Father. It is something that I often think about because I hear persons saying that the conditions among the saints are very low, but it is a great encouragement to know that the Spirit came in at Pentecost and He never has left. He has had an abode in the assembly ever since He came in, even through what we call the Dark Ages the Spirit was still there labouring among the people of God, among the saints, those who belong to Christ in view of maintaining the testimony and maintaining what is due to Christ.

I go on to say, beloved, He was seeking to develop bridal features among the saints of God; His great mission in the dispensation is to provide a bride for Christ. It is grievous that some persons, even breaking bread amongst us, say that the days of the West are finished. Persons who say such things do not know what they are speaking about. It is clear from Acts 16 that, having imposed certain limitations, the Spirit of God has chosen the field in which He is operating in view of the securing of the bride for Christ, and He is still operating in that field.

No doubt the Lord has much under His hand in His own operations and we are thankful for it, but nevertheless we need to keep in our minds what is the prime purpose of God in the dispensation, and that comes down to applying the purpose of the Spirit in this dispensation, that is the securing of the assembly for the heart of Christ. I have no doubt in saying, beloved, that He will do that right on to the end. So while there may be breakdown, and we are in the breakdown and should feel it humbly and keenly, and feel what scope Satan has against what belongs to Christ, yet there is another side, and that is what is of God is here and will continue here. It will continue at the highest level as long as the Spirit is here, and He will be here as long as the saints are here. That is something to encourage us. I think most of us have some concern about conditions amongst us, but we need to be careful as to that because we can be overwhelmed by it. So it is helpful to look at the side of the truth from the aspect of what the Spirit is doing, and He is securing what is in the mind of God, what has been in the mind of God from all eternity, an eternity that is past. The Spirit is working to secure what is in the mind of God, and not only is He working to secure it but He is successful in it.

There is that here which is the result of His service and we need to look on one another, beloved, and see how that is working out in the days in which we are and rejoice in it. It lifts our hearts above the whole condition here which, if we dwell on that, we will get carried away and swamped with it. As you see what the Spirit of God is doing, and not only think of it mentally, you can think of it mentally, but see it in your soul and carry it in your spirit, you can be lifted up above all the sad conditions that there are. You think of Christendom and what it is, it is very sad, but alongside that the Spirit is working. It may be that He is working among a few, that is His matter. There is one thing that is always a comfort, and that is in 2

Timothy 2 the Lord knows those that are His (2 Timothy 2: 19). It might be well to remind some of the younger ones that, as we have been taught, that is the Lord’s matter. He knows those that are His and we leave that to Him. Our responsibility is to hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies, as the Lord says in Revelation 2 and 3. That is in the midst of 2 Timothy times which are difficult. There were the seven assemblies in Asia which would cover that period; “He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies”, Revelation 3: 22. The Spirit’s voice has never been silent. He has spoken since He came in at Pentecost and He has spoken right on. There may not have been many to hear what He was saying, that is another matter, but the speaking of the Spirit has never ceased. I am convinced of that.

Another thing I am convinced about, and I have said it a number of times, that if you think of the Dark Ages and all that was in them, the Spirit never left the assembly. I would say this as a parallel in passing. I believe that there has never been a Lord’s day that the Lord has not been able to appear to someone at the Supper. I believe that is the truth and we need to carry these things and value these things. If I might venture to say, beloved, without being boastful or anything of that description, because I think the situation would keep us very humble, nevertheless we ought to be thankful for the way, in sovereignty, in which we have been brought into the great truths that have been brought to light in the revival related to the assembly. There is nothing more valuable than that in this whole scene. I say that without a shadow of a doubt and let us just keep it in mind. There is nothing more valuable and the Spirit is working at His own level.

I often refer to Mr Stoney, and if you read his ministry you will notice that he is very concerned that the height of the truth is preserved. He says a remarkable thing, that the enemy does not seek to unchristianise anyone; when I first read that it rather stunned me. We should think he would, but then I can see that if he did, he would expose what he is at; but what the enemy seeks to do is to take what is really precious to Christ, the highest level of the truth and get us off that; that is what he is doing, beloved, at the present time. He has been doing that ever since the dispensation began, but I would say that in the last few years there has been a tremendous increase in his activities in that connection. Nevertheless the Spirit is still speaking to the assemblies, and that is our safeguard. “He that has an ear, let him hear”.

We want to be preserved, and I am sure everyone here wants to be preserved in the truth, and the way of preservation is to have an ear to hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies.

I read that verse at the end of Revelation, “the Spirit and the bride say. Come”. I have no doubt that that is a result of what He says to the assemblies, and I would think that persons who are with Him compose the bride. They are with the Spirit, persons who have had an ear to hear what the Spirit has said, and is saying; His speaking unquestionably concerns what the assembly is for the heart of Christ. Think of that wonderful day that is contemplated in this chapter. Have you ever thought of what the feelings of the Spirit would be when the Lord has the bride for Himself? Have you ever thought what that would mean to the Holy Spirit as you think of His labours throughout the dispensation, as you think of Him achieving the end of what has been in mind, and there is that which is satisfying for the heart of Christ? Well, beloved, I think that each Lord’s day we have an opportunity; and again it is something that concerns me as we come up to the Supper. No doubt we have in mind the Lord coming in amongst us, and what impressions He may leave with us, but have you ever thought as the Lord comes in amongst us what is there in my soul that is for His pleasure, resulting from the Spirit’s operations? May the Lord help us in this, for His name’s sake.

Word in meeting for ministry, Edinburgh
22 May 2007

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