The Spirit: The Product of Joy

Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, He hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.” — ACTs ii, 33.

BEING by the right hand of God exalted

%3 He hath shed forth this.” Why did He wait till He was exalted? Why did He not shed forth the Spirit from the shades of Gethsemane? It is because no man can impart his spirit in the hour of his depreésion. In the hour of my depression my spirit is crushed down within my own life; it cannot get out from me. Grief is not contagious; it is an object of pity, but it is not an object of desire. But joy zs contagious; it imparts itself to others. When the weight is lifted from my spirit my spirit itself is lifted. My own being becomes too small for it. It breaks the boundaries of my solitude and begins to radiate into other lives. It goes forth from me spontaneously, even as from a bird goes forth its song. It becomes an atmosphere around me, and whatever comes near me lives in that atmosphere. When the insignificant mustard seed becomes a glorious tree the fowls of the air lodge in the branches thereof. My spirit sheds itself forth in the day when it is exalted.

Son of man, I know now the meaning of the words “greater works than these shall ye do, because I go unto my Father.” They mean that Thine elevation into joy makes Thy Spirit more potent over humanity. Thou hast ascended up on high; Thou hast led captivity captive, and therefore the captivity of Thine own Spirit has been led captive. It has burst forth from the new joy of Thy life, Thy resurrection joy. Thy gladness has become what Thy grief could not become — contagious. Humanity was afraid to join in the procession to Thy cross, but it has joined with rapture in Thy Pentecostal song. There were few that could watch with Thee in Thy depression, but Thy lifting up has drawn all men to Thee. Thy transfiguration has glorified Thy life-long death which was completed at Jerusalem; it has ennobled sorrow; it has made the cross divine. The invitation is irresistible when it says “Enter into the joy of Thy Lord;” it is from Thine exalted heart that Thy Spirit flows.