THE GREAT IMPORTANCE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
John 14: 10-15; 15: 15-22; 20: 21-23
I have read these scriptures with a view to saying a few words about the great importance of the Holy Spirit, not only in relation to each one among us individually, but with the saints viewed in their collective movements. The present day is the day of the Spirit; a day in which God gives His Spirit without measure; I want to speak of the period that began at Pentecost and which ends when the assembly is taken up to be with Christ. John the baptist gave testimony in the first chapter of this gospel, that he saw the Spirit descending as a dove on Jesus. The Lord Himself had come down as it is said later: “I am come down from heaven, not that I should do my will, but the will of him that has sent me”, so that in becoming flesh He was placed at the disposition of His Father. What a vision that must have been for heaven! And John the baptist had seen the Spirit descending, as if the Spirit would identify Himself with the humble service that the Lord has undertaken. So we have the Lord and the Spirit setting themselves at God’s disposition; both are seen as being sent, and that so as to introduce this great day, the day of the Spirit. So John the baptist adds: “he who sent me to baptise with water, he said to me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and abiding on him, he it is who baptises with the Holy Spirit”. That brings in the assembly as it is presented in 1 Corinthians 12, where we read that, in the power of one Spirit, we have all been baptised into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, and we have been made to drink into one Spirit. I do not know that we have the expression ‘baptised in the power of one Spirit’ attached to any other period than that of the assembly, so that in the remarkable dispensation in which we are found, the Spirit has come to abide. And He has not come in a limited way, but without measure, so that we should be entirely secured for God’s pleasure. From the outset, God has found His delight in the sons of men. In Proverbs 8, we read on the subject of wisdom that its “delights were with the sons of men”. It is a very stimulating thought to keep in our minds, that what God has cherished before the world’s foundation has now appeared, and that it relates to us and to all the saints who have received the Holy Spirit, so that God finds His pleasure in the sons of men, that is to say, men in the position of sons. For that to be possible, it was necessary first that the Son of God should become Man, presenting in Himself the order of Manhood so glorious, the second Man, the Man from heaven. It is in Him that we have life, we are of His order, and the Spirit has intervened to put in us the affections and intelligence that are proper to sons, so that God should be fully satisfied in the response that His sons give Him, and fully glorified in the way they engage with everything for Him. It is therefore fitting for us all to consider ourselves as being those who have been born of God. The Lord introduces this thought early in this gospel: “He came to his own, and his own received him not; but as many as received him, to them gave he the right to be children of God, to those that believe on his name; who have been born, not of blood, nor of flesh’s will, nor of man’s will, but of God”. All those who have received Christ are born of God.
Then in chapter 3 of this gospel, the Lord speaks to Nicodemus; he is a teacher among the Jews, a man representing the best one might find in man according to the first order. The Lord tells him that he must be born anew; that is to say, that there must be an entirely new beginning in him. We read in verse 5: “Except any one be born of water and of Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God”, and the Lord goes on with these words: “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit”, making a clear distinction between what is born of the flesh and what is born of the Spirit, and that must be taken account of; the effective work of God in souls takes it character from what is spirit. God Himself is a spirit, and He works in us to produce what is of this character, what is spirit. It is as if God would bring His creature into the closest affinity with Himself, and that must affect us greatly in thinking of it.
Then in chapter 4, we see a woman who had been drawn to the Lord by the Father, not that she herself was aware of the fact, but the Lord says later, “All that the Father gives me shall come to me”, and nobody can come to Him unless the Father draw him. And so there is a great interest in the gospel of John in evangelical activities with individuals. They are brought into contact with Christ and each time a soul is really led to Christ, He sees in them someone who has been given by the Father and who the Father has drawn to Him. Each of those who have been brought to Christ can consider themselves in this light: the Father has given them to Christ and drawn them to Christ. And so the Lord would place a great value on each of us. He is not concerned with outward conditions, or with appearances, but He appreciates all those who are given to Him, as coming from the Father.
And so the Lord considers this woman in chapter 4 with great interest, and desires to serve her in wondrous grace, immediately introducing the subject of the Spirit; although she sees it in relation to her needs, the Lord has in view that she should be secured for God as a worshipper. It is very important for each of us to understand that we have been secured for God to be a worshipper. It is not a matter of worship in a mere form, but what God seeks are the persons, persons who would be worshippers, whose worship springs up spontaneously; all those who have been drawn to Christ must become worshippers. Clearly this thought applies as much to sisters as to brothers; they cannot express themselves publicly in the assembly, unless by means of hymns and in the way in which they say ‘amen’, but nevertheless God has in view that they should be worshippers as much as brothers, and that there should be in them this spirit of response that springs up, for the more it is so, the better worship will be expressed by means of the brothers. The body into which we have been baptised is actually a very sensitive organism and what is produced in one member is proved in all the others in the power of the Spirit. So the Lord brings up the subject of living water. He speaks with a wonderful skill to stimulate this woman’s interest, and immediately brings in the thought of God’s gift in saying, “If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that says to thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water”. Today is the day when the Son of God is giving the Holy Spirit, it is the great gift that the heart of God is giving to men, it is the characteristic glory of the present time. The Spirit of God dwells in believers and if He does not meet any hindrance, He effectuates for them a complete deliverance from the law, from sin and from death; the believer is delivered from the world and delivered from himself, so that he is in liberty to serve God. He becomes a vessel of the Spirit and, in a sense, there is no limit to what the Spirit can produce with someone who is entirely available to Him. The Lord therefore speaks in a way to arouse interest with this woman, and she begins to question Him. He says: “Every one who drinks of this water shall thirst again”; it is a matter there of the water of the world; some satisfaction that we could find for ourselves in this world’s sources. We will experience that it soon disappears. It may last a short time but then it evaporates, and that is what the Lord said to the woman, while He adds: “but whosoever drinks of the water which I shall give him shall never thirst for ever”. What a proposition that is! That establishes the believer in complete independence of the world that is around him. God Himself makes His abode in him. What a suggestion for us! What things there are that the Spirit can bring into our hearts, and we have to take account of them. It is said that we have been given to know the things that have been freely given to us of God; and also that the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. Who could exhaust the depths of God? That shows the infinite possibilities that the believer has in the Holy Spirit given of God. This immediately attracts the woman, and she says, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst nor come here to draw”. The Lord then raises moral questions. He can do that! He says to her, “Jesus says to her, Go, call thy husband, and come here”, but the woman answers, “I have not a husband”, and the Lord confirms that, “Thou hast well said, I have not a husband; for thou hast had five husbands, and he whom now thou hast is not thy husband: this thou hast spoken truly”. The result of these few words was that the woman could say: “Come, see a man who told me all things I had ever done”. In principle, she had appeared before the judgment seat of the Christ. At the judgment seat of the Christ, each will receive the things they have done in the body. This woman is made aware that the Lord had brought her into correspondence with His own thoughts as to all that she had done. All was in the open. What a good thing that all should be in the open between us and God! If it is so, we need not fear if all should be in the open between ourselves and the brethren too. One who walks characteristically with God always walks openly with his brethren. The more what is in us is exposed, the dearer Christ is to us, for we appreciate Him as being One who has died, not only to remove the sins that we have committed, but also that what was the very source of those sins, what we are in the flesh, should be judged according to God and that the life in us should be given in His Son. Nothing could be greater than being established in the very life of the Son of God, the Spirit being the power for that in our souls. We live in Christ by the Spirit, we partake in His life as Man, and this is complete deliverance.
The Lord then adds: “the water which I shall give him shall become in him a fountain of water, springing up into eternal life”. The Spirit would always draw our affections to the Father and to Christ and towards what is of Christ, formed in the saints. It is said that we must seek the things that are above. The Scriptures speak of the things of the Spirit, and there is much to engage our minds. We read, “whatsoever things are true … noble … just … pure… amiable, … of good report … think on these things”. A great extent of interests is set thus before us, and what is evidently supreme in this domain is God Himself. The Father seeks worshippers, and the Lord says, “God is a spirit; and they who worship him must worship him in spirit and truth”. I do not doubt that this woman was secured as a worshipper. May each brother and sister ask themselves if they are free to be a worshipper; or otherwise turn to the Spirit on the matter, for the Spirit is ready to set us in liberty. As to certain things, we can have to do with the Lord, like this woman, and He will be faithful to raise every question which must be considered so that we should be free, and secured and maintained as God’s worshippers. All that is fundamental for the assembly. The measure of liberty there is in the assembly is governed by the liberty of those who compose it. This question of liberty is therefore to be considered so that God should have His part in full measure, His intention being that response should be addressed to Him with affection and intelligence worthy of Him. And for that, the Spirit who is Himself God has made His abode in us.
In chapter 14, the Lord says that He is going away, and He asks the Father to send another Comforter, whom the world cannot receive. That clearly establishes the position of the saints, as set entirely apart from the world, having nothing in common with the world. We have received the Holy Spirit and Christ dwells in our hearts; and yet the world is not concerned about Christ and cannot receive the Spirit; there is nothing in common between the saints and the world, and if we maintain whatever it be in common, we are weakened by the position and suffer in our own souls. So, the Lord says He will send the Comforter, and that He will be in us and with us eternally. The Lord was on the point of leaving His own, but the Spirit was going to come and not leave them. In truth, this period of the absence of Christ was necessary, according to God’s wise ways, to allow us to appreciate the Spirit. The Lord says, “if I do not go away, the Comforter will not come to you”, so that His departure was necessary for us to learn to appreciate the Spirit. That does not diminish our appreciation of Christ in any way, because the Spirit loves to glorify Christ, but it is important that we learn to appreciate Himself, and the Lord speaks of the Comforter, not only as going to remain with us, but abiding also in us. That is to say, in the most intimate way. It is very precious to think that the Spirit has made His abode in us; it is the guarantee that the assembly is going through victoriously. If the place that is due to the Spirit is accorded Him, the assembly will be preserved victorious over the world, and will be led into all the truth. So, in speaking of the day of the Spirit, the Lord says, “In that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you”. What things are in these verses! There is an allusion to the place which the Lord fills as Man in the affections of His Father, but there is the truth touching His Person as being in the Godhead, for we have in chapter 10: 38 of this gospel: “even if ye believe not me, believe the works, that ye may know and believe that the Father is in me and I in him”. The Father was in the Son, and Christ was in the Father; that was demonstrated by the works. So that these words “I am in my Father” imply that He is who He is in the glory of His Person, but known now as Man and dwelling in the affections of His Father. This position has been brought in so that men should be brought in Him and with Him, and so He can say, “ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me”. We are in His affections and we live in Him; we have a dwelling in the Father’s favour in Him, and all this is set before us in the day of the Spirit. Then the Lord adds, “and I in you”; that is to say, that Christ is in our affections. We are in His affections, and He in ours. He is Himself seen characteristically in the saints, they are thus under the Father’s eye, for His pleasure, having Christ in their affections and presenting His features in a living way. That forms part of what the Spirit produces in view of the enrichment of the service of God.
Now in chapter 20, the Lord establishes His own in relation to His interests. He says to them: “Peace be to you: as the Father sent me forth, I also send you”, That is to say, that now it is those who must occupy the position in testimony; as the Lord had been sent by the Father, in the same way they have been sent by Christ and must fill the position perfectly, as He says to them: “Receive the Holy Spirit”. This was then only the indication of what would happen, that is to say that they did not actually receive the Holy Spirit until the day of Pentecost, because in chapter 7, it is said, “for the Spirit was not yet, because Jesus had not yet been glorified”. It therefore had to wait for Jesus to be glorified before they received the Spirit, but the Lord presents these things here in anticipation. He breathed into them, indicating in that way that they would have His Spirit in them. When the Holy Spirit came, at the day of Pentecost, He is presented in the character of the unction. He is seen as coming upon them, it is the outward side, and they became established in power in the testimony. But to receive the Spirit inwardly has in view that we should do all things in the grace of Christ and in His own spirit; the spirit of grace on the one hand, and on the other faithfulness to God, for these two features are seen in the Spirit of Christ. In the power of such a Spirit, the saints are worthy of confidence; the Lord placed His confidence in them and said to them: “whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted to them; whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained”. It is as if the Lord said: I place absolute confidence in you to manage every question suitably that can arise in the assembly, and you will receive the Spirit even to fill this position. That makes us understand how we depend on the Spirit and how we must take care not to grieve Him or to quench Him. On the other hand, we have to give Him the place to which He has a right to make us able to fill out every position in which God has placed us in a way that may be for His pleasure and the glory of His Name. This is the reason for which we are down here: to secure the pleasure of God and to glorify His Name. May the Lord bless His word.
VALENCE
2nd November 1957
Translated from the French magazine, ‘Ondées’,
May-June 1958
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