I) Both Christ and the Spirit were sent by the Father, and were sent to teach; but they differed in respect of
1) CHARACTER – Christ was sent in the Father’s name as the Father’s representative; the Spirit had come in Christ’s name as Christs representative.
2) PURPOSE – Christ had been sent to furnish men with an objective image of God; the Spirit to give an inward apprehension of the same.
3) DURATION – Christ came for a season; the Spirit came forever.
4) RESULTS – Christ’s mission was imperfectly realized so far as it related to the enlightenment of men; the mission of the Spirit would attain complete success both in instructing and sanctifying.
II) The fulfillment of the Holy Spirit in the Apostles was quite a miraculous mission, and still carries on today.
SCRIPTURAL ILLUMINATION – A wonderful light began to shine in Old Testament. Because of this light the Apostles were enabled to see references to Christ which had previously been hidden, ( Psa. 16:8-11 with ACTS 2:25-28; 13:35; Psa. 110:1 with Acts 2:34; Psa. 2:1,2 with Acts 4:25; Psa. 2:7 with Acts 13:33; Amos 4:11 with Acts 15:16; Zech. 9:9 with John 12:16 ).
QUICKENED RECOLLECTION
– A lively recollection of forgotten words of Jesus began to show itself. Examples: John 2:22; Luke 24:8; Acts 11:16; Acts 20:35
In particular, Christ’s utterances concerning His relation with the Father ( John 8:28 )
FURTHER REVELATION – A gradual disclosure of truths which had been concealed in Christ’s teaching but not developed as, e.g.,the doctrines of – (1) His Divinity (Acts 1:36). (2) His atoning death (Acts 3:19). (3) His exclusive Mediatorship (Acts 4:12). (4) Justification by faith (Acts 13:39; Rom. 1:16,17; Rom. 3:21-26; Rom. 5:1). (5) The Catholicity of the New Testament Church (Acts 11:17; Rom. 1:6,7; Rom. 2:11; Gal. 6:15; Eph. 2:14-16). In short, out of this flowed the New Testament.
III) The relation of the Spirit to the general body of believers started with the Apostles and carries on today.
NEGATIVELY – It does not warrant the expectation that new revelations will be imparted to either the Church or the individual. This pretension had been advanced by Rome, which places tradition on a level with the writings of the apostles.
POSITIVELY – The language used by Christ implies that the Church and the individual have today, as the apostles had, a teacher qualified to lead them into all truth, (I John 2:20). A –The high esteem in which the Holy Spirit should be held as the Father’s Commissioner, the Saviour’s Expositer, the apostles’ Remembrancer, the Church’s Teacher, the saints’ Comforter. B – The great confidence which should be placed in the Holy Spirit, possessing as He does the twofold stamp and seal of the Father and the Son. C – The sincere gratitude with which the Holy Spirit should be welcomed, since without His assistance the revealed Christ cannot be understood
THE COMFORTER
The promised teacher, ” The Comforter ” means literally one who is called to the side of another, primarily for the purpose of being his representative in some legal process; and, more widely, for any purpose of help, encouragement, and strength. This comforting and strengthening office of the Holy Spirit is brought into immediate connection with the conception of Him as a Teacher. That is to say, the best strength that God can give us is by the firm grasp and the growing clearness of understanding of the truths which are wrapped up in Christ. This Divine Teacher is the Holy Ghost. We might have expected, as indeed we find in another context, the ” Spirit of Truth ” as appropriate in connection with the office of teaching. But there is a profound lesson for us in this , that, side by side with the thought of illumination, there lies the thought of PURITY built upon consecration.
There is no real knowledge of Christ and His truth without PURITY of heart. The man who has no ear can never understand music. The man who has no eye for beauty can never be brought to bow his spirit before some gem of art. The scholars in Christ’s school have to come there with clean hands and clean hearts. On the other hand, the truest motives for purity are found in that great word, ” holy “, which is meant much rather to make us good than to make us wise. So, in this designation of the teaching Spirit as holy, there are lessons for two classes. All fanatical professions of possessing Divine illumination which are not warranted by purity of life are lies or self-delusion. And, on the other hand, cold-blooded intellectualism will never force the locks of the palace of Divine truth, but they that come there must have clean hands and pure hearts.
The Holy Ghost is ” sent by God ” in Christ’s name. He acts as Christ’s Representative; just as Christ comes in the Father’s name and acts as His Representative. He has for the basis of His mission the recorded facts of Christ’s life and death, these and none other. In this verse we have the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit brought into such close and dissoluble union as is only vindicated from the charge of blasphemy by the belief in the divinity of each. That Divine Spirit is more than an influence; ” He shall teach “, and He can be grieved by evil and sin. This messenger is a Person, only because the philosophy of this world uses such terms to identify humanity, and is defined in the singular, ” HE “. They say, and I have no idea of who ” they ” are, but they say the doctrine of the Trinity is not in the New Testament. HOWEVER, I can not, and will not question the written Word; ” This is He that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that bears witness, because the Spirit is truth. For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree as one. ” ( I JOHN 5:6,7,8 )
Christ is our lesson to learn, and it is not a lesson which can be learned in one lifetime. The world and the Church received Christ, as it were, in the dark. It is like a precious gift was given to you in the morning, as it was dawning, each fresh moment that passed revealed, as the light grew, new more beautiful and precious, and cherished gifts, within the gift, raising it’s value as each moment goes by. You knew it was prized, but to ever increase in value was a total surprise. The imaginings continue during each moment due to the revelations being exhibited at such inconceivable rates of speed, your heart and mind, and soul are all captivated by it’s loveliness, and grace. Christ’s Words are inexhaustible, and the teaching of the Spirit is to unveil, like unto the removal of the layers of an onion, more and more, revealing the infinite momentousness of each and every jewel discovered by and through the gentle, but direct teaching of the Holy Ghost.
Our Lord anticipated the need for one to be sent to His Church to guide, direct, and protect His newly adopted family members. Also, the necessity of the development of sound Christian doctrine after His departure had to be addressed. The early disciples had only a limited grasp of Christ’s nature. They knew next to nothing of the great doctrine of sacrifice; about His resurrection; that He was going back to heaven; of the spirituality or universality of His kingdom. None of these things were known by them. And, when the day of Penticost was fully upon the land, the disciples were in one place with one accord, and suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them utterance. ( ACTS 2:1-4 )
In an instance all that was unintelligible flashed into remembrance; even what may have seemed insignificant. If Jesus Christ and the deep understanding of Him be the true lesson of the Divine Spirit, then real progress consists, not in getting beyond Christ, but getting more fully into Him. I pray that the hope and belief that I have in the continuing advance of Christian thought as joyfully as any man, but my notion of it, and Christ’s notion of it, is to get more and more into His heart, and to find within Him, and not away from Him. As people age, their words become feeble, as their bodies become wrapped in oblivion. Unlike the human body, the body of the Church, the Bride of Christ, is a living organism not shackled to the sentence of death due to sin. His Bride is ageless and constantly needs guidance, direction, and protection. The progress of the Church consists in absorbing more and more of Christ, in understanding Him better, and becoming more and more molded by His influence.
As we continue to grow, the Holy Spirit continues to teach us., As unreceptive as some appear to be, He continues to keep the seal unbroken for the marriage of our Lord to His Bride, the Church. The Holy Spirit can teach all that the Lord has chosen. God can teach any man. His that are called by His name have been given a heart of flesh. All things have become new, and there are new discoveries to be made by the second. Just like an astronomer, you focus your telescope in the heavenly’s and every evening there are new discoveries to chart, new knowledge never known before. Our God, He never changes, but who can know One that counsels with only Himself? Infinite knowledge is just that, infinite. We do not have the power to search the heart of our God and Creator. Only the Holy Spirit can Comfort us in calming our emotions from all evil.
Let us keep ourselves seeking His face. The Holy Ghost is always with us, He will not leave us comfortless. But be careful of those who might say that certain gifts of the Spirit are not for today, and that their time has been fulfilled. That clearly is a blaphemy of the highest degree. To say that certain of the gifts of the Holy Ghost have since come to fulfillment then you are declaring the Holy Ghost to not be Divine. Is it not God who gives to me gifts severally as He wills? Though this is another teaching for another day the importance to bring this certain of subjects needed to be brought forward. I see and hear of so many who claim to be disciples yet they deny the Divinity of the Spirit. God is the same today as He always has been, and will always be. God cannot lie, and does not change.
Now that is very comforting. There comes upon us a “ PEACE ” which the world cannot experience. The Spirit comforts us and keeps our hearts from being troubled. Reconciliation to God exclusively arises from the merit of His sacrificial sufferings as being our redeemer. What Christ left us is substantial. Everything left to us by Him is beneficial. When Christ left the world, He made His will. His soul He bequeathed to His Father, and His body to Joseph of Arimathaea. His clothes fell to the soldiers, His mother He left in the care of John. But, what should He leave to His poor disciples? Silver and gold He had none; but He left them what was far better–His ” PEACE “. Christ’s peace has come from Christ’s life.
Let’s take comfort in the knowledge that the peace of Christ has it’s seat, not in the circumstances, but in the heart. It is a truism to say that disquiet belongs to this world, for everyone knows this, though he may know little else; and it belongs in a particular degree to this particular age. Having Christ in our own life, we can say, though our surroundings may be like the disquiet of an earthquake. We have peace in our heart , for the Giver of peace dwells there. Externally, there may be excitement; indeed, our own physical life may be excitable, for grace does not turn one body into another; yet there is a Divine calm down under the surface, such as no man can know who knows not the true life.
Christ’s peace is here assured to us in terms of peculiar significance. ” PEACE I LEAVE “. This is the language of legacy, and it implies that He would live after He dies. A legacy implies death, ( HEB. 9:16 ). This language implies, also, the principle of grace. He gives. ” GRACE “ is not the name of wages for work, nor of reward for merit. The Diety of the Giver understands what is meant by the peace of Christ. Now, ask yourself, could a man give that? The world can only give what it has to give. The world gives in order to get. The world gives only to take away again. The peace that Jesus gives is the peace of mind. It is also peace of conscience. The Psalmist says, ” make me to hear joy and gladness, that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. ( PSALM 51:8 ) Meanwhile, it is the everlasting, spiritual peace that is beyond the understanding of this world.
Now let us take comfort, ” And he believed in the Lord; and He counted it to him for righteousness “, (Gen. 15:6); ” Thou has granted me life and favour, and thy visitation hath preserved my spirit “, (Job 10:12); ” Quicken me, O Lord, for thy name’s sake for thy righteousness’ sake bring my soul out of trouble “, (Psalm 143:11); ” O my God, incline thine ear, and hear; open thine eyes, and behold our desolations, and the city which is called by thy name: for we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousnesses, but for thy great mercies “, ( Dan. 9:18); ” No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, and they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me “, (John 6:44,45)
Special thanks to References from The Biblical Illustrator; By Joseph S Exell
In I JOHN 5:6-8 the Spirit, the Water, and the Blood all agree as One. I could not agree more! We know that God is a Spirit; we must be washed by the Water, with the Word of Christ, and be brought back to life through His blood which is life. This confirms that in the beginning was the Word, ( God, the Father ), and the Word, ( God, the Father ), was with God, ( Jehovah-the Temple the Father begat for Himself ), and the Word, ( God, the Father ), is God, ( Jehovah-the likeness and image of the Father), the only Begotten of the the Father, the Son of God.
Now, JOHN 1:14 ” The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” How much more clearer can our Lord be? God, our Father, became flesh,not the Father,but the Son, became flesh. We have now, mankind, seen the glory of God, the Father, II COR. 3:18, and Heb. 1:3. Also, in Luke 3:22, the Father tells us plainly Who His Temple is. It is in Christ which the Father chose and is well pleased. However, in John 12:28, God, the Father, declares His Name through the mouth of Jesus, Whom the Father had glorified, in the past, and will glorify HIM again, when He, the Father, raises His eternal likeness and image from the grave. He also declares what His Holy Spirit, is, in Luke 9:35, it is the Word that proceeds from the mouth of His Temple, Jesus. That Temple is the very Glory of God. In John 5:21, and in John 6:63 our Father declares that the Word spoken through the lips of His right hand are His Holy Spirit and they are life, Deut. 32:47. The letter to the Hebrews stresses, in the very beginning of the letter, that the exact representation of the Glory of the invisible God, Heb 1:3. However, II Cor. 4:6 reinforces all of Holy Scripture. In Gen. 1:3 we see the revelation of the Glory of God in the face of Christ.
In retrospect, God is the Word from eternity. There were certain angels that, through their jealousies, in times past, they rebelled against the Lord, our God. They let their emotions cloud any wisdom and understand of the Almighty God allowing their selfish desires to lead them to believe that they were greater in the creation God had established and hated mankind who were to be chosen to inherit the very likeness, image, and nature of God, the Father of all of creation.
Being reasonable, and not mysterious, he has done everything infinitely perfect. He sets us down, in front of Him, face to face, talking to us as any dad would to their child, giving them instruction of the pitfalls of this world, and how to avoid them:
Proverbs 4 ►
New International Version
Get Wisdom at Any Cost
1) Listen, my sons, to a father’s instruction;
pay attention and gain understanding.
2) I give you sound learning,
so do not forsake my teaching.
3) For I too was a son to my father,
still tender, and cherished by my mother.
4) Then he taught me, and he said to me,
“Take hold of my words with all your heart;
keep my commands, and you will live.
5) Get wisdom, get understanding;
do not forget my words or turn away from them.
6) Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you;
love her, and she will watch over you.
7) The beginning of wisdom is this: Geta wisdom.
Though it cost all you have,b get understanding.
8) Cherish her, and she will exalt you;
embrace her, and she will honor you.
9) She will give you a garland to grace your head
and present you with a glorious crown.”
10) Listen, my son, accept what I say,
and the years of your life will be many.
11) I instruct you in the way of wisdom
and lead you along straight paths.
12) When you walk, your steps will not be hampered;
when you run, you will not stumble.
13) Hold on to instruction, do not let it go;
guard it well, for it is your life.
14) Do not set foot on the path of the wicked
or walk in the way of evildoers.
15) Avoid it, do not travel on it;
turn from it and go on your way.
16) For they cannot rest until they do evil;
they are robbed of sleep till they make someone stumble.
17) They eat the bread of wickedness
and drink the wine of violence.
18) The path of the righteous is like the morning sun,
shining ever brighter till the full light of day.
19) But the way of the wicked is like deep darkness;
they do not know what makes them stumble.
20) My son, pay attention to what I say;
turn your ear to my words.
21) Do not let them out of your sight,
keep them within your heart;
22) for they are life to those who find them
and health to one’s whole body.
23) Above all else, guard your heart,
for everything you do flows from it.
24) Keep your mouth free of perversity;
keep corrupt talk far from your lips.
25) Let your eyes look straight ahead;
fix your gaze directly before you.
26) Give careful thought to the paths for your feet
and be steadfast in all your ways.
27) Do not turn to the right or the left;
keep your foot from evil.
Isaiah 43:10
“You are my witnesses,” declares the LORD, “and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me.”
Isaiah 43:11 “I, even I, am the LORD, And there is no savior besides Me. 12″It is I who have declared and saved and proclaimed, And there was no strange god among you; So you are My witnesses,” declares the LORD, “And I am God. 13″Even from eternity I am He, And there is none who can deliver out of My hand; I act and who can reverse it?”
Can we believe and have assurance that the words spoken by our Lord God are the Holy Spirit spoken of?
Psalm 33:6 ” By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,
their starry host by the breath of his mouth.
7) He gathers the waters of the sea into jarsa ;
he puts the deep into storehouses.
8) Let all the earth fear the Lord;
let all the people of the world revere him.
9} For he spoke, and it came to be;
he commanded, and it stood firm.“
Colossians 1:15 ” The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.”
I Kings 19:11, So He said, “Go forth and stand on the mountain before the LORD.” And behold, the LORD was passing by! And a great and strong wind was rending the mountains and breaking in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of a gentle blowing. 13 When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. And behold, a voice came to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?“…
And to think that some believe that the Son is a God, and the Holy Ghost as well? It’s absurd to even attempt to designate a triunity of one God. As for me and so many others who have been chosen, it is our duty to hold fast the truth, reject the philosophies of men, and reject the practices of the Pagans of this world; participating in idol worship, worshiping a man seated on a golden throne flanked by two angels declaring himself to be infallible as is God, praying to, and for the dead, recognizing and worshiping a queen of heaven, participating in the worship of the sun as in ancient times with the sun over the sacrifice of the Christ hung on a cross above the sacrificial alter where the sacrifice takes place and Christ is sacrificed several times a day and everyone participating in the eating of His flesh and the drinking of His blood with the sun god observing his servants sending their sons and daughters in the firery furnace so he may devour them.
The greatest abomination the true God and eternal life, our Lord Jesus Christ, I John 5:20, hates is one who is called, but not chosen. They have returned to the base elements of this world and disregard God’s instruction and revelation of Himself and to disect Himself into three separate gods, ” IHS” signifying their dedication to a ” Trinity ” of god’s, embossed on their wafers they bake to worship all their dieties whom they worship, teaching such blashemies which Satan is the author. Jesus said that many are called, but few are chosen, and that many will perish, although they had done many things using His name, then He will turn to them and say that He never knew them. That only makes sense that if you had never took the time to know Him! Why, then should He consider you to be His bride? YOU USED HIM, YOU USED HIS NAME, YET YOU NEVER KNEW HIM!
The trinity as a mystery
The Vatican Council has explained the meaning to be attributed to the term mystery in theology. It lays down that a mystery is a truth which we are not merely incapable of discovering apart from Divine Revelation, but which, even when revealed, remains “hidden by the veil of faith and enveloped, so to speak, by a kind of darkness” (Constitution, “De fide. cath.”, iv). In other words, our understanding of it remains only partial, even after we have accepted it as part of the Divine message. Through analogies and types we can form a representative concept expressive of what is revealed, but we cannot attain that fuller knowledge which supposes that the various elements of the concept are clearly grasped and their reciprocal compatibility manifest. As regards the vindication of a mystery, the office of the natural reason is solely to show that it contains no intrinsic impossibility, that any objection urged against it on Reason. “Expressions such as these are undoubtedly the score that it violates the laws of thought is invalid. More than this it cannot do.
The Vatican Council further defined that the Christian Faith contains mysteries strictly so called (can. 4). All theologians admit that the doctrine of the Trinity is of the number of these. Indeed, of all revealed truths this is the most impenetrable to reason. Hence, to declare this to be no mystery would be a virtual denial of the canon in question. ( CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA / NEW ADVENT )
We are created in the likeness and image of God, and He is a jealous God! Why then should He be any different as His creation, which, is a mirror likeness and image of Himself? We would react no different if our spouse, to be, did not know who we were while they describe you in a way that depicts you out to be mystery, only because they did not take the time that was needed to recognize that you were full of love, having no indications of anything less? I know my betrothed, do you know who you are engaged to? My suggestion is to read up about Him. There is a book called the BIBLE that gives a full and thorough description of Him. It is filled with wisdom and understanding of the one and only God that ever was, and will always be!
But, here again, we see the doctrines of men, and the philosophies of this world defining the very one we are betrothed to marry. Let see, someone spreads lies about you, doesn’t know anything about you, and makes things up about you, and never took the time to know you, yet tells everybody that their intimate soulmate loves you more than life itself, but has yet to spend any time with you; how would you feel about them?
This rendition of who God really is differs tremendously from God’s description of Himself, and of what the Apostles preached, and taught. THE CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA / THE ADVENT
The divine relations
The existence of relations in the Godhead may be immediately inferred from the doctrine of processions, and as such is a truth of Revelation. Where there is a real procession the principle and the term are really related. Hence, both the generation of the Son and the procession of the Holy Spirit must involve the existence of real and objective relations. This part of Trinitarian doctrine was familiar to the Greek Fathers. In answer to the Eunomian objection, that consubstantiality rendered any distinction between the Persons impossible, Gregory of Nyssa replies: “Though we hold that the nature [in the Three Persons] is not different, we do not deny the difference arising in regard of the source and that which proceeds from the source [ten katato aition kai to aitiaton diaphoran]; but in this alone do we admit that one Person differs from another” (“Quod non sunt tres dii”; cf. Gregory Nazianzen, Fifth Theological Oration 9; John Damascene, Of the Orthodox Faith I.8). Augustine insists that of the ten Aristotelean categories two, stance and relation, are found in God (On the Trinity V.5). But it was at the hands the Scholastic theologians that the question received its full development. The results to which they led, though not to be reckoned as part of the dogma, were found to throw great light upon the mystery, and to be of vast service in the objections urged against it.
Take a look at this; ” GOD IS NOT THE AUTHOR OF CONFUSION “, I COR. 14:33. The synonym for ” CONFUSION “, or shall I say that one of them is ” MYSTIFICATION “. The root of this word is mystery. Jesus testified, through the Apostle Paul, that ANY and ALL ; confusion in the description of the Godhead had been erased; being revealed in totality, disclosed to all of our Lord’s people. Therefore, how can the Godhead be a mystery, unless; UNLESS the early Fathers, not the Apostles, adopted the very theology based upon scholasticism and philosophy, not of God. Their prophetic revelations do not math up against God’s word; Col. 1:26-28 –
26) the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people. 27) To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
28) He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ
and in Rev. 19:10 – 10) At this I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “Don’t do that! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers and sisters who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For it is the Spirit of prophecy who bears testimony to Jesus.”
freest teaching of the gospel Christ.
bchosen 