I Believe in the Holy Ghost

Who Spake by the Prophets

Tue Apostle Peter supplies the thought which is crystallized in these words. He tells us that the Spirit of Christ was in the Prophets, when they foretold the grace which was to come tous. They could not decipher all His meaning. That Christ should suffer and enter His glory by the blood-stained path was clear, but the time and the characteristics of the time were hidden from their most careful enquiry. He goes on to say, that the olden prophets, with the Apostles of the early Church, and the very angels, blend their wondering and adoring glances on the uplifted Cross, the Grave, and the Ascension Mount (I Peter i. 11-12).

A further light is furnished in his second Epistle, where he tells us that the written word of prophecy resembles a lamp shining in a dimly-lighted place, to be extinguished at dawn, that it never came from the prophets’ own prompting, nor by human will, but men spake from God as they were borne along by the Holy Spirit. The idea seems to be

that of boats hurrying along some swiftly flowing 186 current, which carries them on its broad bosom seawards. (II Peter i. 19-21).

These remarkable utterances by one whose thought is saturated with the Old Testament Scriptures, remind us of the great work of the Holy Spirit in preparing the way for Christ. In many of the Old Testament passages, which refer to Him, He is represented as a Divine Power acting on the material universe, or the physical life of men; brooding over Chaos; sent forth to renew the face of the earth; enabling the artists to adorn the Tabernacle, and nerving heroes to superhuman feats of strength and endurance; but here His personal and individual Ministry in glorifying the Son of God is distinctly recognised. He is described as “the Spirit of Christ,”’ and as now, so then, He bears witness to Him. Testimony of Jesus is the Spirit which underlies prophecy.

It is almost impossible to formulate a perfectly satisfactory definition of Inspiration. A literal rendering of the word gives us tn-breathing. We may say, therefore, that Inspiration is the inbreathed thought and word of God. We may, also, get help from the phrase used by Peter, that the prophets were borne along as on a stream of holy impulse. The word of the Lord was as a fire in their bones, and they were weary of forbearing, and could not stay. Messages and visions were given them by the Divine Spirit, working in the depths of their nature, but they were left to select such words as seemed the fittest medium of utterance, though even these were winnowed by the superintendence of the same Spirit. Difficult as it is to define Inspiration, the least instructed are aware of its presence. It isa divine quality in the sacred writings, which speaks for itself, and betrays its presence by inimitable characteristics. Inspired words search the heart, grapple with the conscience, inflame the affections, enlighten the judgment, summon the soul into the presence of God, awaken responses from the lowest depths, communicate the divine nature, and bring eternity into the simplest, plainest, and most ordinary lives. We recognise the saline quality of the ocean wave, so soon as the sea-water touches our lips. There is no need to prove to us that an avenue of limes is fragrant, or that a rose exhales rare perfume, our senses are immediately aware of their respective charms. Sugar is sweet apart from logic, or analysis, or explanation as to the source from which its sweetness is derived. So it is impossible to read the Bible carefully and thoughtfully, without realising its intrinsic and unique qualities. The bush burns with fire. The shechinah trembles between the Cherubim. The still small voice thrills the soul. There is a glory on the sacred pages which never lay on sea or shore. As amid the human limitations of Jesus of Nazareth, there was the ardent effulgence and glory of Deity; so though the divine thoughts are incarnate in human phrase, they betray themselves, they cannot be hid, they proclaim their source.

We owe a profound debt to modern research, which has thrown so much light on the Old Testament, practically rediscovering the larger portion of it, and setting it in a new light; but let us remember that its main message is not to the intellect but the heart, and that we shall never derive the full help and comfort it was meant to impart, unless we submit ourselves to Him who originally inspired it, in the faith that He will reveal its secret, sacred message.