Promises

It is often the case that a divine promise can come into our minds suddenly. We may assume that we have thought about it because we know it by heart. That may be the case, of course, but just because we know it by heart does not explain why that particular promise came to our minds. No doubt, we know quite a lot of them by heart, or at least we should.

 

The usual reason why a promise came into our minds is because God brought it to our attention. He had his reasons for doing so, even if we at first cannot say why. Maybe, because he was aware that something unexpected was going to happen to us, he reminded us beforehand that he was in control. Perhaps, because he knew that the devil was going to tempt us, he brought to our attention that Jesus had defeated the devil at the cross. Often, after we have sinned, he brings a promise of the availability of forgiveness to our minds.

 

The fact is that the Holy Spirit is constantly functioning as the comforter of his people. As we know, the word translated comforter can also be translated in other ways. Basically, the word means someone who comes alongside to speak. It can mean helper or counsellor or friend. That is what the Holy Spirit does for his people. Those translations remind us that it is by words that the Spirit gives guidance and aid.

 

But what words does he use? How do we know that it is him who is bringing a message to our attention? He will use his own Word, the Bible, but he will also use it according to the meaning he intended when he guided people to write it. Many of the promises are connected to salvation from our sins, although there are also numerous promises connected to divine providence and other matters such as guidance. 

 

Of course, the Holy Spirit can bring other verses to our minds apart from promises. He can remind us of commandments to obey, or of doctrines to think about. It is good to know that the Holy Spirit cares enough for us to draw near with his Word.

 

What are the purposes for us receiving such promises? Obviously, they bring comfort. But they also are given to us so that we will use them in prayer. They are reminders of what the Lord can do for us. So the next time, a Bible promise comes to mind, we should consider why it has been sent to us.

The presence of the Spirit

The Book of Acts deals with many spiritual matters, but an overriding theme is the presence of the Spirit. We often are unsure what that means or what it will look like. It is easy to explain what it is like to be in the presence of another human, even if we do not know who they are, because we can describe what they looked like and maybe heard what they said. 

 

Of course, the main reason why we can describe them is that we know what a human is. It would be hard for us to describe an angel if we saw one. How much more difficult for us to describe the presence of God. Sometimes, descriptions of the presence of God are only accounts of the effects of his presence. We see effects that reveal his power, but how do we know if they are expressions of his gladness or of his anger? A stormy wind may knock a wall down or it may push a boat quicker to the harbour.

 

I once heard a man say that the presence of the Spirit is like the atmosphere. We have to be in the atmosphere in order to live and the atmosphere has to be in us in order for us to live. I could take a gulp of air and dive into the sea, but if that gulp is all the air I have, I will not last long. I need to be in the atmosphere in order to live and the atmosphere must be in me. Change the word atmosphere to ‘Holy Spirit’ and we may get some idea of the necessity of his presence for spiritual reality. We have to be in him, and he has to be in us.

 

In addition to the necessity of his presence, there is also the normality of his presence. Because he is God, it means that he is unchangeable in his character. So there is a sense in which we can predict what he will do. The reason we can predict it is because the book he inspired tell us what he will do. Jesus informed his disciples that the Spirit would glorify him, and that is what we are told about in the Book of Acts. Jesus also told us that the Spirit would take from the treasures of Jesus (the things of Christ) and reveal them to his people. That also happens repeatedly in the Book of Acts. And Jesus told the disciples that the Spirit would convict sinners about their sins and point them to Jesus, and that happens repeatedly in the Book of Acts. The message is, when Jesus is glorified, the Spirit is present; when saints are edified, the Spirit is present; when sinners are converted, the Spirit is present.

 

In addition to the necessity of his presence and the normality of his presence, there is always the newness of his presence. Newness has more than one meaning. A thing can be new because it never happened before, or it can be new in the sense of recurring in a fresh way. What kind of newness does the Spirit provide? It is the newness of repetition – glorifying Christ, edifying saints and converting sinners – and always fresh. 

Pentecost Sunday

Today is Pentecost Sunday when numerous Christians celebrate the coming of the Spirit in a special manner to empower the New Testament church for worship and witness. It was the commencement of an incredible contribution from the eternal God that remains with his people and will do so until the next major event in the story of the church, which is the second coming of Jesus.

Old Testament prophets, as well as Jesus, had predicted the coming of the Spirit and the consequent growth of the church. Over three thousand people were converted on that first Pentecost and I wonder how many were converted today throughout the world. Probably many more than three thousand. Even if one person was converted in each location throughout the world where living Christianity exists, there would be many more than three thousand in number.

In addition, one role of the Spirit is to sanctify all those who believe. This sanctification, while it involves dealing with the power of sin in their lives, is also concerned with making every believer become like Jesus in character. They no doubt wonder if that change is happening, but the presence of the Spirit is the guarantee that the change will occur and that one day, either when they die or when Jesus returns, they will be fully conformed to his likeness.

Moreover, one aspect of the coming of the Spirit was to deliver spiritual gifts from the exalted Christ to each of his people. Paul tells us that every Christian has at least one spiritual gift and when exercised as they should they create a community of holy people competent to serve their risen King in the ways that he wants them to do.

It is an incredible blessing to live in the age of the Spirit. We should remember this as we see all the crises and catastrophes happening all over the world. And we should remember this as we see problems and disappointments in the church. While we may grieve the Spirit and lose his blessing until we repent, he is not going to go away. On the Day of Pentecost he came in power and blessing, and subsequent days of his activity have not drawn to a close.

As we reflect on this Pentecost Sunday about the coming of the Spirit we can also remind ourselves of what Paul says when he writes that throughout this age we have the firstfruits of the Spirit. This means that what the church has and is experiencing is only a sample and that there will be greater involvement by the Holy Spirit in the lives of his people when the new heavens and new earth commence.

Having the Spirit

We thought tonight about having the Holy Spirit as believers. The passage we considered was Ephesians 1:13-14. He has been given to us because the Father has kept the promises he made in the Old Testament about the coming of the Spirit and Paul reminds his readers that this fulfilment is a reason for praising the Father.

The involvement of the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers has many aspects. One that is mentioned here is that he comes to believers because they have been united to Christ by faith when they believed in him. We know from elsewhere that they believe because the Spirit had regenerated them and that he becomes the link between them and Jesus.

Paul focuses here on the beginning and the end of the Christian life on earth. The beginning is seen in his description of the sealing of the Spirit. The Father gives the Spirit as a mark of his ownership of his people – the presence of the Spirit is the identifying mark of a genuine believer. The Spirit is a permanent mark as well as a personal one. He is given to all Christians and never leaves them, even when they sin and fail.

It is inevitable that some, if not most, of the Ephesian believers were slaves who had been branded by their owners, and perhaps rebranded when sold on. Those sealings would have been very painful events for them. The sealing they received from God was very different. In fact, there was no pain because all the pain had been borne by Jesus when on the cross. He bore the pain so that they could have the promised seal of the Spirit.

If the Spirit as the seal marks the beginning of the Christian life, then having him as the earnest or guarantee points to the end of a Christian’s life in this world – or we could say that in this way Paul points us to the fullness of life that believers will have when they receive their inheritance. The idea behind the word ‘earnest’ or ‘guarantee’ is that of a deposit that a person makes of a future payment. This is a reminder that the eternal state will be an intensely Spiritual experience.

So we can deduce two consequences of having the Spirit. First, the presence of the Spirit will enable us to understand our security in Christ – we have the Spirit as the seal that we belong to God. Second, the work of the Spirit is to make us heavenly minded – this can be deduced from the fact that he gives foretastes or samples now of what it will be like to be there.

The Time Has Come

It is good to know that God is in control, a fact that Paul reminds us of when he says that Jesus was born when the fullness of time had come (Gal. 4:5). The Father knew the best time to send his Son, and his coming brought to a closure the period of the Mosaic law as far as his people were concerned. We should be glad that is the case – imagine trying to keep all the details mentioned in the ceremonial law!

So the time had come for God to send forth his Son. We may think that Paul means he sent his Son into the world. Yet I would say a better understanding of ‘sending’ is that he was sent to become a man without ceasing to be divine. The Son was sent on a mission, which was to become the Redeemer.

So the Son appeared at the right time and did so in a lowly manner by being born of a woman and born under the law. He did so in order to identify with us in our stages of life and to provide a perfect life for us to have us our justification in God’s sight.

We can see from a sacrifice that was offered shortly afterwards by Joseph and Mary – two doves – that Jesus was born into and grew up in a poor family (Luke 2:24). Yet he learned how to obey the law, which he did perfectly at all times, and how to apply it, which he did correctly at all times.

Nevertheless, he came into the world to go the cross, where he was to obtain freedom for those enslaved by the condemnation of the law. This occurred at Calvary, so we can summarise his mission by saying that the babe of Bethlehem became the curse on Calvary in order to set us free.

This all happened in the past, but the Father’s intentions continue. Because Jesus completed his mission, the ‘period of the Mosaic law’ has been replaced by ‘the period of adopting’ in which the Father adds many children to his family. That is what God is doing today, adding to his family throughout the world.

Moreover, the Father gives to each of them two presents. One is the Holy Spirit and he comes as the Helper, and the other is the status of being an heir, which means that they become wealthy in a spiritual sense. 

Unlike the presents we received earlier this week, which will eventually deteriorate, the Father’s gifts keep on providing his children with amazing blessings. This is what they will have both in the time that they have in this life and in the time that they will have in the new heavens and new earth.

(reflections on this morning’s service).

The baptism of Jesus - the coming of the Spirit

A feature of the baptism as the first public acknowledgement of Jesus and his role was the coming of the Spirit to equip Jesus for functioning as the Servant of the Lord. This does mean that Jesus did not have the Spirit before then. We are told in Luke that the Spirit was with him as a child.

The Spirit came in the form of a dove at the baptism. A dove is symbolic of two things: gentleness and peace, and these two features were to be the hallmarks of the way Jesus was to fulfil his mission. He was gentle in the way he dealt with sinners. Perhaps that is one reason why women liked to be in his company.

Think of occasions when he showed gentleness. Here are four: (a) he was gentle with the woman at the well; (b) he was gentle with the woman caught in adultery; (c) he was gentle with Mary Magdalene on the resurrection day; (d) he was gentle with Peter when he was restored from his fall.

Gentleness is not often regarded as a manly quality; somehow it is assumed that a gentle person is not a strong person. The only thing that can be said about such a notion is that it is nonsense.

Paul referred to this quality of Jesus when he was dealing with the schismatic Corinthians: ‘Now I Paul myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in presence am base among you, but being absent am bold toward you’ (2 Cor. 10:1). To be ‘gentle’ is an essential feature of a minister’s life; it is a qualification for an elder; it is a mark of all believers.

Throughout his earthly life, Jesus with the fullness of the Spirit exhibited continually gentleness and peace. Even on the cross with the dying penitent thief, in the midst of his own troubles, Jesus gave peace to him in a gentle manner.

We can see the range of the Spirit’s influence in the life of Jesus in his own words which he spoke in his home synagogue in Nazareth (Luke 4:17-20). Jesus detailed several aspects of what he would do: (1) preach the gospel to the poor; (2) to heal the brokenhearted, (3) to preach deliverance to the captives, (4) recovering of sight to the blind, (5) to set at liberty them that are bruised, (6) to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. We can see what peace he brought to those who were heartbroken and in spiritual chains.