I want to approach my subject, tonight, with all the reverence of my soul. I want to contemplate the Person and the ministry of the blessed Holy Ghost. God help me.
The above image strikes me forcefully with the realization that the Holy Ghost is a divine Person; He is God Almighty; He is perfectly, eternally one with the Father and the Son.
Of all the things that could be said about Him.... My mind is lately filled with meditating upon the fact that we are living in what should be called the 'dispensation' of the Holy Ghost. Jesus left the earth in a very definite, deliberate manner: He "ascended." O! it was not merely that He ascended bodily, physically ~ but Jesus "ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things" (Ephesians 4:10). Jesus has been glorified! seated at the right hand of the Majesty on High! Jesus's High Priestly ministry, as the head of all things to the Church, which is his body, is "within the veil," in the very Presence of God.
But Jesus promised, when he ascended: "I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever" (John 14:16). That other "Comforter" is the Holy Ghost, the Third Person of the Godhead, who now serves as Christ's Regent (one who is authorized to rule on behalf of another) on the earth. Jesus left; the Holy Ghost came in his stead.
But how little do we, today, know of the Holy Ghost ~ as a divine Person. How little, really, do we know of His ways and of His ministry; not to mention of His omniscience and omnipotence. It used to be that the subject of the "baptism" of the Holy Ghost was surrounded with no small amount of controversy. Today, however, it is not that that controversy has finally been settled; rather, it almost seems as if it doesn't matter anymore; it is as though everything having to do with the Holy Ghost has faded into the dim mist of historical memory ~ notwithstanding, in many religious circles, the Holy Ghost (or the Holy Spirit, or simply the Spirit) is still mentioned, though not in the sense of the reality of His Person and work but, rather, as being, as it were, just another part of the Creed of Christianity.
Yet, I believe God is moving mightily amongst a faithful Remnant not only to revive and restore in our consciousness the reality of the Person and ministry of the Holy Ghost. I furthermore believe God is going to give us such a revelation of the Holy Ghost that will so transform us that . . . well, it will not cease with Revival, but it will go beyond Revival. How is that possible? That revelation will soon transfigure us and also translate us heavenward, into the very Presence of Jesus Christ. The Scripture declares that our "change" (that is to say, our transfiguration) will occur "in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye" (1 Corinthians 15:51-52). But that does not preclude the possibility (likelihood, in my mind) that we are going to experience an unprecedented move of the Holy Ghost within our own spirit, in preparation for that "moment" of our transfiguration.
Everything within me seems to be yearning, reaching, striving to lay hold of this Vision that I'm now describing to you. It really seems more the case that the Vision has laid hold of me, and is irresistibly drawing me toward it. It is more and more real to me with each passing day. Over the past few years, as I have continued to search out the deep things of God, and as more and more light has been given me, many things at first appeared too wonderful for my mind to embrace. Especially that has been the case when I have beheld glimpses of things I've never heard spoken of before (and, for which things I've dared to mention to others, I have sometimes been scorned and rejected).
There are still secrets hidden in God ~ things that concern us! things that are soon to be revealed in our time! There is yet such victory that is in Jesus Christ, the fullness of which I believe must be revealed before Christ will sit in judgment against this present world.
Very many complain that this generation is too far gone for God to reach; that the world is worse than it has ever been. Maybe it is worse than it has ever been; God knows. But my Bible says that the blood of God's Lamb was poured out "for the sins of the WHOLE world" (1 John 2:2) ~ which shall be "testified in due time" (1 Timothy 2:6). The "whole world" includes THIS PRESENT WORLD ~ bad as it is. And who is going to "testify" to that fact . . . if not a Holy Ghost-filled Church?
Our problem is that we have such an impoverished conception of who God is, of who Christ is, of who the Holy Ghost is!! We give so little thought, so little attention, so little real care to learn of God and of His breathtaking plans. How can our minds be filled with the wonderful things of God, when we are content to be preoccupied with the things of this world?
The Holy Ghost is going to fulfill His own ministry on earth. He is not going to fail or disappoint, no, not in the smallest point. JUST LIKE JESUS CHRIST, the Holy Ghost has come to "destroy the works of the devil"; to deliver "all that are oppressed of the devil"; to show to Christ's disciples "things to come"; and, to lead those same disciples "into all truth". So, yeah, I do believe the Holy Ghost is showing me things to come; and that He is dealing with me in all things in truth. Hallelujah!!!
I've written somewhat, lately, about a thought that is revolutionizing my life, namely: There is NO OTHER POWER, NO OTHER MEANS, whereby God will save souls and build up His own Kingdom . . . than by the ministry of the Holy Ghost! If the Holy Ghost is not "present to heal", then it doesn't matter what words one may mutter and peep, or holler and scream; nothing good will be accomplished. And you can be sure that where so ever the Holy Ghost is not acknowledged and honored in truth, there will be no manifestation of His soul-saving power.
God is leading me to a fuller understanding of MY crucifixion, in the cross of Christ. We say we want to be filled with the Holy Ghost; but, why are we not already filled in such a measure that will demonstrate that we are, indeed, the temples, the very dwelling-place, of the living God? Is it not because we have not yet been emptied of ourselves? divested of our own opinions and purposes? dispossessed of our worldly treasures? and, most important, distrusting of our own carnal selves? Have we not yet learned that without Him we can do nothing? How can the Holy Ghost fill us with the divine life of Christ when we are still so full of ourselves and of the world?
How, do we suppose, can we do any service to Christ ~ without WHOLLY submitting ourselves to the power and authority of the Holy Ghost? Didn't Jesus himself command his disciples to go to Jerusalem and . . . do what? Do nothing! but wait. Wait, for what? Wait, for the Holy Ghost.
One cannot so much as pray without the Holy Ghost: "Through [Jesus] we...have access by one Spirit [the Holy Ghost] unto the Father" (Ephesians 2:18). Through. By. Unto. The Holy Ghost is the divine Agent BY WHOM we enter "through" "the Door" (Jesus) to gain "access...unto the Father". Paul moreover wrote: "[W]e know not what to pray for as we ought: but the Spirit [Holy Ghost] itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered" (Romans 8:26).
Jesus forever magnified the dignity of the Holy Ghost, when Christ revealed that blasphemy against the Holy Ghost is a sin that will never be forgiven. How dreadful is the warning! We are frankly warned in Scripture, moreover, not to "grieve", neither to "tempt", nor yet to "resist" the Holy Ghost. How, then, do we acknowledge and honor Him in the course of our busy, distracted lives?
We are commanded in Scripture to "be filled with the Spirit" (Ephesians 5:18). Jesus himself said: "He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water" (John 7:38). The phrase, "as the scripture hath said", should be taken to define, or qualify, the character of that faith which "believes on" Jesus. Said another way (paraphrasing): 'He that believeth on me, in the manner as described in Scripture,' etc.. For, nowhere in the Old Testament is there an explicit declaration related to "rivers of living water" flowing out of anyone's belly.
Nevertheless, the very next verse makes the meaning of Jesus's words explicit, as follows: "(But this spake he [Jesus] of the Spirit [Holy Ghost], which they that believe on him [Jesus] should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)" (John 7:39).
If "rivers of living water" ~ the overflowing outpour of the Holy Ghost ~ is not in superabundant evidence ("rivers" ~ plural; and not streams or creeks....) in my life, it is because I am not actually "believing" on Jesus Christ in the way "as the scripture hath said". The devils believe, wrote James; but they are not filled to overflowing with the Holy Ghost. Why not? Because, they do not "believe" on Jesus "as the scripture hath said". True "believing on Jesus" necessarily involves full surrender of one's own life in complete submission to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Only such as do that are candidates to be filled to overflowing with the Holy Ghost, His divine Presence and power.
I say, again, God will save souls NO OTHER WAY and BY NO OTHER MEANS, than through the ministry and power of the Holy Ghost. God will build His Church and His kingdom NO OTHER WAY and BY NO OTHER MEANS, than through the ministry and power of the Holy Ghost.
Revival can come NO OTHER WAY and BY NO OTHER MEANS, than through the ministry and power of the Holy Ghost. And, friend, NO ONE is going to be transfigured and translated to meet Jesus Christ in the air, than through the ministry and power of the Holy Ghost. It is IMPERATIVE that we must repent of our indifference and gross disrespect toward the Holy Ghost; which, indifference and disrespect, is no less dishonoring to Jesus Christ, who gave his own life in order that we might receive the heavenly Gift.
You may say I am making too much of our responsibility to the Holy Ghost. Whereas, I suppose it is not possible to make too much of that. The fault and failure, rather, lies in our having far too little appreciation of, and reverence toward, that divine Person whom the Word of God calls, the Holy Ghost.
I've heard some people say you don't have to have the Holy Ghost, to go to heaven. But I can't find that idea anywhere in the Bible. What I find instead, is that Jesus had to die, in order that, through Christ's blood and by his grace, we might be cleansed of sin and made worthy to become the temple of the Holy Ghost. To say, then, that we can somehow make it to heaven without being filled with the Holy Ghost, seems to me a very dangerous idea.
Revival can come no other way than through the ministry and power of the Holy Ghost.
No one is going to be transfigured and translated, in the Rapture, except, through the ministry and power of the Holy Ghost.
Have I left Jesus Christ out of anything? No, not at all. Jesus is Lord of all: and it is that Lord who said: "I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter.., even the Spirit of truth" (John 14:16,17). We are living in the dispensation of the Holy Ghost. Our spiritual Forefathers understood the supreme importance of that; wherefore, they and their generation were greatly benefitted as they sought and submitted themselves unto the leading and power of the Holy Ghost. If genuine Pentecost is going to be revived and restored in this the terminal generation, we urgently need to return, firstly, to genuine Christianity. It is Gospel truth to say that Pentecost does not come before repentance and regeneration, but it follows after.
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