us the first-fruits of our inheritance, in the joy and assurance and guidance and strength of the indwelling Comforter. On this ground rests the solemn appeal in the epistle to the Ephesians "Grieve not the Spirit of God in whom ye were sealed unto the day of redemption.' While there is much that is mysterious and difficult to apprehend in this subject, we believe that we can get more light concerning it from the example and experience of Jesus Christ than anywhere else, since he is the pattern for his brethren in all things. Jesus says, referring to himself, "For Him hath God the Father sealed."† This evidently refers to what took place at his baptism. Let us go to the banks of the Jordan and witness the divine transaction and that which follows it. As he comes forth from the water we see "the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting upon him;" a voice is heard from heaven saying, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased;" Jesus "being full of the Holy Ghost, returned from the Jordan;" he is "led by the Spirit into the wilderness;" he afterwards returns "in the power of the Spirit;" and going into the syna gogue he applies to Himself the words of the prophet, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor." * This was our Lord's enduement or sealing by the Holy Ghost in preparation for his public service. And what an impressive lesson it is for us, that, though he was the divine Son of God, yet He henceforth did all things in dependence upon the Spirit; from the beginning of his ministry, when he said, "I by the Spirit of God cast out devils, to the end when "through the Eternal Spirit he offered up himself without spot unto God." Now mark how every feature of the Lord's sealing is reproduced in that of his disciples, after the Holy Ghost has come upon them. They also have the assurance of sonship; "the Spirit himself beareth witness with our spirits that we are the children of God." They have the same divine guidance, "for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." They are indwelt by the same Spirit; "and they were all filled with the Holy They are endued with the same energy; Ghost." * Luke 4: 1-20. † Rom. 8: 16. + Rom. 8: 14. "ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you." They have the same divine unction; "the anointing which ye have received abideth on you." Here certainly is one seal for both Master and disciple, since all the lines and features of the two impressions exactly correspond. In the case of Jesus Christ this transaction was a distinct and divine enduement for his public ministry. Is it so with his followers? Certainly it was with the first disciples. The same event happened to the body of believers, on the day of Pentecost which befell the Lord at the Jordan. Both alike were baptized with the Holy Ghost. "Is the day of Pentecost then to be perpetually repeated?" it will be asked. To which we answer, "No! and yes!" As the inauguration of the Spirit's ministry in the church it cannot be repeated. On that day the Holy Ghost in his abiding personal presence came into the church to guide and order and inspire it, henceforth throughout this dispensation. As Christmas was the incarnation of the second person of the Trinity, when the Word was made flesh and tabernacled among us, so Pentecost was a kind of incarnation of the third person when the Holy Spirit came to dwell in the body of believers, so that each Christian is now "the temple of the Holy Ghost" and the whole church is "the habitation of God through the Spirit." Since this wonderful event has come to pass, the Holy Spirit's home and place of ministry is here on earth, just as truly as Jesus Christ's present habitation and seat of intercession is in heaven at God's right hand. Therefore we need not pray for the Comforter to be sent down, for he is here as truly as Christ was here in the days of his humiliation. But while this is true, we are to remember that the presence of the Spirit is one thing, and the power and fullness of the Spirit another. When Jesus sent forth the seventy on their ministry of grace he said, "Behold I give unto you power," * and then invested them with his own divine prerogatives of preaching, and healing, and casting out demons. So the Spirit who is now present in the church gives power for service to those who seek it. In this sense the experience of Pentecost can be repeated. It is still our privilege to pray for the baptism of the Spirit, and to tarry in supplication until we be "endued with * Luke 10: 19. power from on high." And a careful reading of the Acts of the Apostles would seem to indicate that this experience is something quite distinct from regeneration, being no less than an investment of the believer with a special divine energy and efficiency for carrying on God's work.* "Did ye receive the Holy Ghost when ye believed?" † asks Paul of certain disciples at Ephesus. Believ-, ers and disciples they certainly were, but this did not carry the certainty with it that they had received the power of the Spirit. On the contrary, they lacked this until by the laying on of the apostles' hands "the Holy Ghost came upon them"; then they "spoke with tongues and prophesied." After the day of Pentecost we hear Peter urging his hearers, by obeying the gospel, to seek for "the gift of the Holy Ghost," adding, "for the "God's sealing of believers is his gracious communication of the Holy Ghost unto them, so to act by divine power in them as to enable them unto all the duties of their holy calling, evidencing them to be accepted with him both to themselves and others, and asserting their preservation unto eternal salvation. The effects of this sealing are, gracious operations of the Spirit in and upon believers, but the sealing itself is the communication of the Spirit unto them. For it is not said that the Holy Ghost seals us, but that we are sealed with him. He is God's seal unto us. Where God sets this seal such effects will be produced as shall fall under the observation of the world." - John Owen (1616–1683). † Acts 19. 2. (Revised Version.) |