The Coming Of The Spirit
THE COMING OF THE SPIRIT
“And when the day of Pentecost was now come, they were all together in one place.
“And suddenly there came from heaven a sound as of the rushing of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
“And there appeared unto them tongues parting asunder like as of fire; and it sat upon each one of them.
“And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”—Acts 2:1–4.
The words of Jesus concerning the Spirit seem to have made but little immediate impression upon His sorrowing disciples. Probably they were too full of trouble to comprehend their meaning, and too indifferent to consolation to care to understand. Love in tears is apt to be petulant. The suggestion of any possibility of compensation for impending loss is resented as an insult and a reproach. The promise that Another should fill His place brought no comfort. They did not want Another. To speak of a successor was a reflection upon their devotion, and to say the exchange would be to their advantage could be nothing but the exaggeration of compassion. Grief for impending loss refuses to be comforted. So the promise of the Paraclete brought little light to their understanding, and apparently less comfort to their hearts. It was not until the Ascension that their eyes were opened. The Resurrection filled them with a great joy, but not until they witnessed His return to the Father did they realise the true greatness of their Lord and the meaning of His Mission in the world. As they beheld Him rise the mists lifted from their understanding, and they returned to Jerusalem not like bereaved and broken men, but rejoicing and praising God. The vision of the opened Heavens had given them a new conception of all things in Heaven and on earth. Infinity had received a new centre, for the Eternal glory was embodied in a Person they knew; prayer had a new meaning, for it was through a Name they uttered with familiar affection; faith had received a new basis, for it was in the Christ they had loved and proved. For ten days they waited with their eyes set upon the heavens where they had seen Him disappear from their sight. With Pentecost came the fulfilment of His word, and the gift in which they found the complete realisation of all that He had said.
The Day of Pentecost was an epoch-making day. It initiated the Christian dispensation, and like all initiating days, it was a sample day. The method of the student is to track his way back to origins. Until he has reached the birth-point of his theme, his work is imperfect and his conclusions insecure. Things are seen at their origin in all the simplicity of their first intention, essentials can be studied in their completeness and order, without complication or perversion. First days are worth seeking and repay the most careful study. In the first days is found the explanation of existence, the essential qualities of nature, and the conditions of development. The Day of Pentecost reveals every quality, every energy, and every condition of the Spirit’s presence and work in the world. That one day manifests all the forces and possibilities of all succeeding days.
Experience follows the pattern of dispensations. Sinai and the Temple typified and determined the life of Judaism; Pentecost typifies and determines Christian life and experience. Every condition necessary for the coming of Pentecost as a dispensation has a corresponding condition for its coming as an individual experience. Whatever is dispensationally true is true experimentally. There is no operation of power, no privilege of the Spirit, no gift for service, that is not available for the experience of those to whom the Day is the beginning of days. The study of the broader aspects of the question reveals the individual relationship. Within the Day of Pentecost each may find the conditions of his own baptism, the possibilities of his own Christian life, and the gifts of power for his own particular work. Dispensational and experimental truth are mutually conditioned. The blessings of the dispensation cannot be obtained apart from mental, moral, and spiritual conditions, which correspond to the essential qualities of the Dispensation. With these facts in view let us consider concerning the Spirit:—
I. The preparation for His coming.
II. The occasion of His coming.
III. The results of His coming.
I
There was an extended and an immediate preparation. The world had been preparing for Pentecost from the days of Paradise. All the movement of the Old Testament was a march towards Pentecost. The moral and ceremonial order were the tutors and governors preparing for the larger inheritance of the Spirit. Every new development of truth, and every progress in righteousness was another stage in the direction of the Day of the Spirit of God. The History of Israel and of the race is the story of the extended preparation for the fulness of time. The immediate preparation was in the work of Christ: His Death, Resurrection, and Exaltation.
“Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink. He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, from within him shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believed on Him were to receive.” This passage tells us the source, course, and condition of the Spirit. The Living Water is from Christ, flows through the believer, and is conditioned on the glorification of Jesus.
The Scriptures will be searched in vain for Christ’s quotation. There is no passage that even approaches to it. The explanation is found in the method of quotation. The Scriptures were rarely quoted verbatim by Jesus and the Apostles. They almost invariably gave the sense rather than the letter. In this saying, Jesus stated the teaching of the Scriptures as symbolised at the feast which occasioned their utterance. The feast was the Feast of Tabernacles and the last day was the eighth day of the feast. On the seven preceding days water had been brought in a golden urn from the pool of Siloam, and poured upon the Altar amid the sounding of trumpets and other demonstrations of joy. On the eighth day there were processions and rejoicings, but no water was brought, for that day celebrated the entrance of Israel into the Land of Promise. It was on the day when the priests brought no water that Jesus stood where for seven days it had been poured out, and cried, saying, “If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink. He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, from within him shall flow rivers of living water.” The meaning of the cry is in the significance of the rite. Jesus declared Himself to be the fulfilment of its prophecy, and the reality of which it was the type. The smitten rock, the stream in the wilderness, and the river of prophetic vision were all included in the celebration, and Jesus identified them all with Himself and His Mission.
That the Living Water refers to the Spirit is obvious. The first reference to this river is in the Prophet Joel whose words were quoted on the Day of Pentecost: “And it shall come to pass in that day, that … a fountain shall come forth of the House of the Lord, and shall water the valley of Shittim.” “That day,” is the day of the out-poured Spirit, and the stream of His influence shall flow from the House of the Lord, and water all the land of Israel even to its uttermost borders. Ezekiel’s vision of the River is an elaboration of Joel’s prophecy. The most significant contributions he makes are, that the River comes not only from the House of the Lord but from under the Altar, and that the peculiarity of the River is its life-giving power. Wherever it flows it brings life. “Everything shall live whithersoever the river cometh.” It is the River of God carrying in itself the gift of life; and the life-giving stream flows from under the Altar—the place of death.
Zechariah completes the prophecy of Joel and Ezekiel. “In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the House of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin, and for uncleanness.” That is Joel’s fountain opened for the cleansing of sin as well as for the restoration of Israel. The ultimate cause is reached at last. Sin is the explanation of death. Life springs from the fountain where sin is cleansed. The cleansing and life-giving water flows east and west from the fountain, and continues its course through summer and winter till it covers the world, and the Lord shall be King over all the earth. Summers cannot dry it and winters cannot freeze it. East and west shall it flow continually till the world shall be encircled in its cleansing, quickening power.
The Book closes with a vision of the River. On the last page you find the River flowing clear as crystal through the streets of the City of God. It comes not from under an altar but a throne; but it is the throne of God and of the Lamb. Zechariah foresaw the day when the controversy between throne and altar would be ended. The throne has become an altar, and the altar the true throne of power. It governs by sacrifice, and from the union of mercy and righteousness comes the River of God. Its course is through the streets of the City, cleansing, sanctifying, nourishing, and blessing the common life of man.
This is the River with which Christ identified Himself on the great day of the Feast. By a picturesque and ever-growing symbolism, the prophets had declared a Day of the Lord, when there should come forth from God that which would cleanse and save the world, destroying its death, healing its woes, and satisfying its hunger. The priest had dramatised the prophet, and in impressive ritual perpetuated his vision. The Day is at hand. Christ declares Himself to be the Temple, and from the place of His death shall come the River of God. But the hour is not yet, for His work is not yet accomplished. The Spirit can only come from the Altar, and the Sacrifice is not yet offered. Until the Father has put His seal upon the work of the Altar, and raised the suffering One to His throne, the Spirit cannot come. The descent of the Spirit waits for the Ascension of the Son. Without Calvary there can be no Pentecost; without the opened fountain, no living Stream. Not till Christ was glorified could the Spirit be given. The preparation was complete when Christ was enthroned.
The coming of the Spirit involved the preparation of a people to receive Him. Here again there was an extended and an immediate preparation. The extended preparation of the disciples covered the whole course of Christ’s ministry and fellowship. Without knowing it, they had come to know the Spirit in Christ. Everything in the life, teaching, and work of Jesus was a manifestation of the power and method of the Spirit. As the end approached, He prepared their minds for His coming by definite instruction and promise. He talked with a glow and enthusiasm of the Spirit that were calculated to kindle their desire and expectation. They were told of His wisdom and power, and the wonders He would do for them exceeding all they had seen in their Lord. Faith cometh by hearing. After the Resurrection they seem to have heard of little else but the wonders of the Coming One. The last words of the ascending Lord were words of promise concerning Him. He charged them not to depart from Jerusalem but to wait for the promise of the Father.… “Ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost, not many days hence.” “Ye shall receive power when the Holy Ghost is come upon you.” If they had not heard they would not have expected, and could not have received.
The final stage of their preparation was in united and believing prayer. The baptism came only to the prepared. It is sometimes assumed that all the disciples were filled with the Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, but we have no warrant for any such conclusion. He came upon all who were waiting for His coming. The one hundred and twenty in the Upper Room were all filled, but there were more than five hundred disciples who were privileged to see the Risen Lord. Where were the three hundred and eighty? Probably about their business attending to the common round of life. The Holy Ghost has always had to work with minorities. A small group of despised people looked for the consolation of Israel in the Coming of the Christ, and it was a minority that at the end of ten days were found waiting for the Holy Ghost. For ten consecutive days they remained in prayer. They were of one accord and in one place. A common object drew them together, a common expectation focussed their faith, and focussed faith always prevails. The fact that they continued for ten days proves both their earnestness and their faith. They waited earnestly for God, pleaded the promise of Christ, and had faith in His word.
These then are the conditions of Pentecost; the glorification of Jesus, the knowledge of the Spirit, and the prayer of faith. These conditions always precede Pentecost and always secure it. The Spirit dwells where Christ rules. As the Father had to exalt Jesus to the throne before the Spirit could be given, so have we to crown Christ King of our life, before we can receive His Spirit. Where Christ is dishonoured and despised there can be no Baptism. God has made Him both Lord and Christ, and when we follow the Father’s example, and make Him Lord and Christ over our own life, the first condition of Pentecost is fulfilled. If a man wants the Spirit to fill his soul, here is the way to possession in a nut-shell: crown and glorify Christ. The Spirit’s work still begins at the Altar. No sacrifice, no baptism; no Calvary, no Pentecost. It is useless to pray for the fire if the altar be not prepared. We wait in vain so long as consecration is incomplete, and there is controversy between the altar and the throne. Consecration is the simple recognition of the lordship of Jesus. In that recognition is the glorification of Jesus, for which the Spirit waits.
A few years ago a Christian man was told by his doctor that he had heart-disease and might die any day. It was a great surprise to him, but they sat and talked quietly. Then the man asked if he should give up his business. “No!” said the doctor, “I think you will die sooner if you do; just go on, but live with this knowledge that you may be wanted to leave this life at any moment.” The man went down to business, and calling together the heads of departments he said to them: “I have been to see the doctor this morning and he tells me I have heart-disease, and that I may die at any moment and at any place. I shall still come to business, but Jesus may come at any hour to take me to Himself. And, men, understand please, that this business is to be conducted in the hourly expectation that Jesus Christ is coming to fetch the master. God bless you!” That is consecration. That is crowning Christ. That is the normal attitude of men who watch for their Lord. That is the glorification for which the Spirit of God waits. The rest will follow. The life thus yielded will be led to the knowledge of His will, and will wait in earnest and believing prayer for the coming of power.
II
Signs are temporary; the truths they signify are eternal. The form in which the Spirit comes is indicative of the work He comes to do. When he came upon Christ He came as a dove, but when He comes to the disciples it is as wind and fire. In Christ there was no darkness to illumine, no sin to purge, no chaff to winnow; but when He comes to us it is for a great work of purification, sanctification, and transformation. The elect symbol of the Spirit is fire. It is the chosen sign of the Divine Presence, from the flaming sword at Paradise to the tongues of flame at Pentecost. Every new epoch is initiated by fire. In the wilderness the Lord went before His people in a pillar of fire. At the dedication of the Tabernacle the fire of God consumed the sacrifice, and filled the Sanctuary with glory. The Shechinah light burned continually in the Temple. John’s great note in calling men to repentance was a fiery baptism, and the Saviour declares He came to bring fire upon the earth.
What is meant by fire? The figure is woven into our daily speech. We speak of things that are warm, natures that are ardent, enthusiasm that glows and kindles, and passion that burns. Its opposite is used to express unwelcome and repulsive things. We complain of coolness, icy reserve, and the manner that is cold. Fire stands for enthusiasm, rapture, and passion. The Holy Ghost is fire. He kindles men. The heart in which He dwells, burns. Others have multiplied rules and regulations for respectability and righteousness, but the Spirit sets men ablaze for goodness, and makes them ardent in all the will of God. Christianity is fire. The Church filled with the Holy Ghost is a community of men on fire. A cold Church is a corpse. A Christian is a man ablaze. “For a Christian to be cold is sin.” Fire purifies, impassions, transforms. It makes all things glow with its presence and transforms into its own likeness everything it does not destroy. There are diversities of manifestation. Fire in different materials shows its presence in different ways, but the end is always either transformation or destruction. The Spirit-filled man glows, radiates, and burns with the fire of God.
At Pentecost the fire took shape, and sat upon each of them a cloven tongue of flame. The sign of Christianity is not a cross but a tongue of fire. The fire is given for speech. The Spirit is given for utterance, and for power to witness. What a difference fire makes to speech! When a man speaks as the Spirit gives him utterance he always has the word that is appropriate, apt, and effective; the word that expresses the meaning carries conviction, and captures the consent of the will. Spirit-inspired speech is always accompanied by the demonstration of power. The soul on fire talks to purpose. That tongue of fire sat on each of them without exception and without exemption. Tongues are given for speech. We also are Christ’s witnesses without exception and without exemption. God expects us to speak and has provided an organ of effective speech. Wherever and whenever He wants our witness, the Spirit is ready to give the right word, and to clothe it with power. Fire is mightier than learning. A soul ablaze is a better guide to effective speech than much scholarship. It is fire that conquers the heart. The fire still falls from Heaven. It cannot be kindled with earthly forces. It is not of the earth but from God. We cannot kindle it. He must send it. Strange fires soon die out. There is no need to warm ourselves at other men’s fires for the Spirit fell upon all, and remained with each. Lay the sacrifice upon the Altar, and then, with the soul looking to God, seek in earnest prayer and persistent faith the promise of the Father, the baptism of Fire.
III
What were the immediate effects of His coming?
The greatest miracle of that day was the transformation wrought in those waiting disciples. Their fire-baptism transfigured them. It seems incredible they could be the same men with whom we are acquainted in the Gospels. Every part of their nature was vitalised, invigorated, and transformed in fire. Its effect upon their knowledge was all that Christ had promised it should be. Their eyes were opened, their memories quickened, and their minds inspired. How clear all things appeared now that the Spirit shone upon them! The Cross, the Resurrection, and the Kingdom were all seen in their true meaning. Peter’s address reveals an illumined intelligence, an apt and accurate interpreter, an Apostle on fire. The coming of the Spirit had turned the fisherman into a teacher, orator, and evangelist. The tongue of fire gave forth the word of wisdom and of power. As men listened they found their minds informed, their reasons convinced, their souls convicted, and their wills persuaded. The gift of knowledge was accompanied with the gift of power. Without Pentecost, the story of the Gospel would have been classed with the mythologies of the world. Historical facts, however clearly proved, could not have prevailed over the prejudice and ferocity with which Christianity was assailed. The facts without the power of the Spirit secured no triumphs. All the wonders of Calvary and the Resurrection were fully assured from Easter to Pentecost; moreover, Christ was with them. But those seven weeks made no converts. Facts alone, however miraculous, however clearly proved, have no converting and regenerating power. Pentecost set the facts on fire, and sent into the streets of Jerusalem one hundred and twenty duplicates of the Resurrection of Christ. Each was a living witness, not only testifying to facts, but revealing and demonstrating them in his own person. Every witness was himself a proof of the Resurrection.
Contrast Pentecost with the scene at the foot of the Mount of Transfiguration. It seems impossible that they can be the same men. Who could have thought that the cringing and helpless men, who stood powerless in the presence of a devil who dwelt in a lad little more than a child, could ever have become the men of Pentecost? It was the coming of the Spirit that transformed them.
In the American Civil War Sheridan’s army was attacked in his absence. The camp was routed. Men threw down their arms and fled like scared sheep. Suddenly they stopped, formed, turned, and drove back their foes, and captured their artillery. What had happened to turn frightened sheep into conquering warriors, and a disgraceful rout into a glorious victory? General Sheridan had suddenly ridden into their midst, and, immediately, his conquering personality passed into the men and they were changed. At Pentecost Christ came to His own in the person of His Spirit, and there passed into their souls the mysterious presence of His Divine Personality. It is the miracle of the Indwelling Divinity that sent forth these fire-crowned men, God-inspired, God-empowered, God-possessed. Spirit-taught and Spirit-filled they knew all things and were full of power.
The effect upon their courage was amazing. This very Peter had turned coward and liar at the laughing taunt of a servant-maid. At the first contact with peril they all forsook their Master and fled. Even after the Resurrection they sat with bolted doors for fear of the Jews, startled at every footstep and frightened at shadows. Pentecost turned these men into heroes utterly destitute of fear. Instead of hiding in terror they stepped out into the open, and boldly declared Jesus the crucified to be the Son of God, the Messiah of whom the prophets spoke, and the Saviour of the world. Without flinching they openly charged home His murder upon the rulers, of whom but a few days before they had sat in terror. Their courage was the daring of a Divine consciousness, and the fearlessness of a mighty faith. The Holy Spirit fills men with boldness. He comes to quaking, trembling, nervous men, and fires them with a passion that knows no fear.
The rebound from their terror and grief was an excited and rapturous demonstration of joy. They were so hilarious that people said they were drunk. The consciousness of power, the sense of relief, the ludicrousness of their fears, and the tingling, thrilling, glowing sense of fire in everypart of their being intoxicated them, and made them seem beside themselves with delight. They were drunk, but not with wine.
What was the effect of Pentecost in the world?
It gathered crowds who were astonished, amazed, and perplexed with the things they saw and heard. Some mocked and attributed it to drink as they had attributed the Master’s works to the Devil, but others were convinced, awakened, saved, and added to the Church of the Living God. That is the sample day of the Church of Christ. Wherever there is a community of Christians baptised with the Spirit of Fire, they leave the Upper Room and go out proclaiming the Gospel to the people. Fire may always be relied upon to bring a crowd. It attracts all kinds of people. They come from every quarter speaking every dialect of human speech. Sensational methods and startling advertisement are unnecessary to announce a fire; it announces itself. When the crowd gathered, the Apostles preached. The Apostolic sermon is a sample sermon. Every man heard it in his own dialect. Its message was new but it was in a language he could understand. The Preacher appealed to the Scriptures, explained immediate events by ancient prophecy, and interpreted prophecy by history; he proclaimed the Gospel and witnessed to the truth out of his own experience; he charged the conscience, urged repentance, and pleaded the promise. That is preaching. Men were pricked in their hearts and sought the way of life. Promptly they were led to Jesus and the same day were added to His Church. That is Pentecost. “And He when He is come, will convict the world in respect of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.” That is the Mission and work of the Holy Ghost in the world.
Did ye receive the Holy Ghost when ye believed?
Every man knows on which side of Pentecost he lives and works. The life that is destitute of fire and power is still without its baptism. To those who would receive the fulness of the Spirit the way is plain. The Spirit can be given only where Christ is glorified. He must be exalted and enthroned, for it is from the throne of God and of the Lamb that the Spirit comes. The word of promise must be received in faith, and sought in believing prayer. Lay the sacrifice upon the Altar and wait for God. The fire of God’s presence descends upon every prepared heart. “He shall be in you” filling the soul with His life and working the works of God in His strength, and out of the Spirit-filled soul shall flow streams of quickening, sanctifying, saving power.