Conclusion: The Reception and Rejection of the Spirit
No blessing, though it be the richest God can give and the most needful man can have, is forced upon our acceptance. It is a fact fraught with solemn significance that the book which thus opens with the Holy Spirit, and is pervaded throughout with his presence and power, also closes with him, only the promise of the first chapter turns into a warning in the last. Notwithstanding the marvels, wrought in this first generation of church history, there were some who called themselves God’s people and prided themselves on their “election,’ who were blind and deaf and hard-hearted and lost their golden opportunity. Even when such a man as Paul the aged expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses and out of
the prophets, from morning till evening, it is sadly recorded that, while “some believed the things
”
which were spoken,” “some believed
Acts xxviii.
i not.” And, as they departed, not to
give simple faith its blessed exercise in believing and trusting, but to indulge their wayward minds and have great reasonings among themselves, the Apostle gave utterance once more to that awful
Isaiah vig, ‘ebuke of the prophet Isaiah, which is more forcible, and probably more intelligible, if translated so as to bring out the voluntary element in this wilful rejection of testimony:
“Go unto this people, and say, Hearing ye will hear, and will not understand; And seeing ye will see, and will not perceive: For the heart of this people is waxed gross, And their ears are dull of hearing, And their eyes have they closed; Lest they should see with their eyes, And hear with their ears, And understand with their heart, And should turn about, And I should heal them.”
These words were addressed by Paul, not to ordinary unregenerate sinners, but to selected and representative Jewish hearers, to the professed people of God, to backslidden believers; and in that fact is a doubly emphatic word of warning, which, like a sledge-hammer striking upon
God’s anvil of judgment, admonishes us that for similar sins of rejection God may enter into controversy with his people in these times also.
Is it possible that, even in our own day, with the burning chapters of the Acts of the Holy Ghost open before our eyes, compelling us to’ read their perpetual lesson, we may yet come under the same condemnation? Is it possible that the heart of believers is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; so that while they cannot but see this marvelous testimony, they have no real spiritual perception, understanding, or disposition to accept the teaching of this book? Can it be that the church of Christ has practically denied to the Spirit of God his rightful seat of authority and administration, and put in his place a usurper — the spirit of this world, which worketh in the children of disobedience? It is a solemn question, which — without daring, or even desiring, to bring against any of God’s professed people a railing accusation — we can only ask every believer, minister of Christ, and church, to consider; for it is to this inquiry that all our studies of this Book of the Acts must finally lead.
‘ Certain it is that the power of the Holy Spirit no longer pervades our witness and work as of old. We have risen from these studies of the Acts of the Holy Spirit with an unquenchable desire to see this power once more manifested. We are not zealous or jealous for the particular form and mode in which the Spirit’s presence shall be exhibited, nor that the exact signs and wonders of the apostolic age should be revived. God has infinite variety of manifestation, and the particular modes of that manifestation may vary as the times and needs change. But the Holy Spirit was given that he may abide with the church forever; and we cannot believe that so glorious and divine a person as the Spirit of God dwells in the church and yet gives no unmistakable sign or signal of his presence. There has been prom-Isaiah v.13. ised one “everlasting sign that shall laaiah x. ax; BOt be cut off.” The thorn shall still unayn ha displaced by the fir-tree, and the brier by the myrtle-tree; plants of godliness shall spring up in unpromising soils and bear celestial fruit, that he may be glorified.
If the Spirit dwells in the body of Christ, and
is left free to work his own will, he will quicken the whole body. Members will have a new care one for another, suffering and rejoicing together. There will be a holy jealousy for the welfare and happiness of all who belong to the mystical body, and an earnest and loving coéperation in all holy work. All schism, whether manifest in inward estrangement or in outward separation, becomes impossible where the Spirit of Love prevails; all heresy becomes impossible so far as the Spirit of Truth indwells; and all apathy and inactivity in the face of a dying world will give way to sympathetic activity when and so far as the Spirit of Life thrills the body; even as all ignorance of God and superstitious worship of forms flee like owls of the night when the Spirit of Light shines in his divine splendor. In a word, all needs of the church are met so surely and speedily as the Holy Ghost, who still abides in the church as God’s only earthly temple, resumes by the consent and codperation of disciples his normal control, actively guiding into all truth and duty. The question we are raising is immensely practical. Upon its answer everything hangs which concerns the power of the church for God. Let us suppose that a wave of divine revival should sweep over the land, and that a prayerful spirit of candid self-search should be its result; that pastors, church officers, church-members, should unite to purge the courts of God of all idols of the world; that the service of song in the house of the Lord should be put into consecrated hands, with a holy jealousy for spiritual praise rather than artistic and esthetic music; that preaching should become a simple declaration of God’s testimony in Holy Ghost power; that secular men, however wealthy, cultured, influential, should be displaced in all church offices by disciples who, being filled with the Holy Spirit, could discern his mind and obey his leading; that all worldly methods of raising money for the Lord’s work should be abandoned, and voluntary, self-denying offerings, consecrated by prayer, should take their place; that the lost art of prayer in the closet, and in the assemblies of saints, should be restored to its true place, and nothing should be done or attempted without waiting on God until his mind were made known — in a word, let us suppose that our whole church life were resolutely remodeled after the pattern showed us in the holy mount; dare any of us to doubt that God would work signs and wonders of grace not less convincing in their way than those wrought in the days of which Pentecost was the glorious dawn?
God’s name is “I AM’” — mystic Exodus iii. 14. name indeed; yet whatever else it means, it can mean no less than this: ove everlasting, unchanging NOW. He is “the same yester- |. we xiii day, and to-day, and forever.”” What he was, he is; what he has done, he can do, will do, does, whether or not his being and doing are seen or known by us. Like the sun, his shining is perpetual. We may get into the dark, but the light is essentially undimmed. We may shut out the light, but it is struggling to reach us behind the shutters. The church of God may pass into eclipse behind the world’s shadow, but the sun is still as radiant and glorious. There is in God “no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” His past deeds, however wonderful, are the promise, prophecy, and proof of what he wills to do and waits to do when our conditions make it possible. And to charge, directly or indirectly, our failures or declensions upon him, is to charge him with being a liar, a false promiser, a capricious, changeable, untrustworthy God. Our doubts are denials, and our unbelief is indirect blasphemy, if not apostasy.
In the previous pages we have followed step by step the disclosures of the Holy Spirit’s presence and power, with reference to tracing a progressive development of doctrine. It may be well, before we close this brief study, to give a backward glance, and look at the lessons we have learned, not with reference to their chronological order, but to their logical connection; not analytically, but synthetically, that we may see what a comprehensive body of truth we have been taught in these Acts of the Holy Ghost.
These inspired pages contain a very remarkable revelation of the Holy Spirit of God, which may be briefly summarized in twelve particulars:
1. His character as the promised Paraclete, the ascension gift of the Father to the Son, and of the Son to the church which he purchased with his own blood.
2. His descent from heaven, and advent among believers, in four representative outpourings: at Jerusalem in Judea, in Samaria, in Cesarea among Romans, and at Ephesus among Greeks.
3. His power working in his witnesses, in unction and utterance, for preaching and prophesying, in many tongues and tongues of fire; in fullness of grace and boldness of testimony in the face of resolute foes.
4. His personality and individuality, divinity and deity, so that he is the one and only true Vicar of Christ, of whom it can rightfully be said that he, “as God, sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.”
5. His divine agency and activity in bringing to birth the church, the body of Christ, adding believers to the Lord, multiplying them greatly,
2 Thessalonians ii. 4.
and making a great company of priests obedient to the faith.
6. His presence and presidency in the church, making elders his overseers, deacons his distributers of bounty, and all truly obedient souls his subordinates and servants; and deigning to act as a fellow-counselor in a church council, sealing its deliverances with his sanction.
7. His co-witness with Christ to believers, and with believers to the world; testifying to disciples, in them, and through them, glorifying Christ by taking of Christ’s and showing to them, and then attesting and approving their word of witness by mighty works and wonders.
8. His individual leading and dealing, his love for inquiring souls and his guidance of his appointed teachers, bringing one inquirer and one teacher into saving contact; designating by name his chosen messengers to the Gentiles, separating them and sending them forth, then restraining and constraining them as to their fields of labor.
9. His power over hearers, so that they were pricked or cut to the heart by the sword of the Spirit; demonstrating the truth; convincing of sin, of righteousness, of judgment; making men to tremble; leading them to repent, believe, and be baptized; to confess their deeds, renounce their curious arts, and burn their costly books before all men.
10. His holy jealousy for honesty, and for his own honor, punishing those who lied to the Holy Ghost and agreed to tempt him by defrauding him of devoted things; avenging such insults to his divine person by instant judgments, so that great fear came not only upon the church, but upon as many as heard these things.
11. His paraclesis or complete administration in the body of Christ, so that the Word of God increased, the church had rest, was both multiplied and edified, and saints continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in breaking of bread, and in prayers, and were of one
heart and of one soul.
12. His impartations and revelations to disciples, increasing their faith and joy in the Holy Ghost, teaching them what they should speak, and anointing them for faithful utterance; making them strong to serve and suffer, and so filling them that they could not but speak, and rejoiced to suffer shame for his name.
In addition to all this we have found here a promise of another time of refreshing, dependent, not on the absence, but the presence of the Lord; a latter rain when the Spirit shall be poured out on all flesh, and all things shall be fulfilled which were spoken by all his holy prophets since the world began.
Church of Christ! the records of these acts of the Holy Ghost have never reached completeness. This is the one book which has no proper close, because it waits for new chapters to be added so fast and so far as the people of God shall reinstate the blessed Spirit in his holy seat of control. He will occupy no disputed throne and exercise no divided sovereignty. He will tolerate no “idols of the tribe, the den, the market-place,
Francis Bacon.
the theater,” in hiscourts. A worldly and unspiritual church is a church that practically has not the Spirit; and not to have the Spirit is to languish, to have a name to live while dead, to lose light and life, truth and love, peace and power.
“‘Gideon’s fleece”’ suggests a double lesson: there may be blessed moisture from heavenly dews while all is dry about us, and there may be accursed dryness while all is moisture about us. While we pray for the whole body of Christ, our responsibility is individual. Let us cultivate divine fellowship in the Spirit, yield ourselves unto God as those who are alive from the dead, and dare to take a bold but loving stand for Holy Ghost administration in the church, that he may be welcomed to his rightful seat of sovereignty; and beneath his golden scepter every blessing shall distil like the dew, and the Lord shall anew command his blessing, even life forevermore!