05.01. THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH

THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH by James McBroom

Much is said in Holy Scripture concerning the knowledge of God, and nothing within the range of human thought can equal It. In two former booklets entitled "The God of Glory" and "The Beauty of the Lord," we sought to dwell a little on God the Father in the one, and God the Son in the other. Seeing the Godhead subsists in Trinity, we felt something should be said on God the Holy Spirit, and we ask the reader to accompany us for a little, in a meditation on that blessed Person. It is to Him we are indebted for the Holy Scriptures; the record of the revelation of Who God is; and what He does, so that all we know, or can know is from Him. Moreover, it is by His operation in our souls, we are made capable of availing ourselves of the revelation He has given us. The Holy Trinity is presented as Three in One. This, faith accepts, though it be beyond creature comprehension. There is much we believe even in our creature constitution which we cannot fully understand. While we are anxious to avoid negatives here, it may be said that in applying numerals, it is not three in the same way, or in the same sense as They are One — Three Persons in one Essence. This, though beyond us, is not out of bearing with sense, as are some of the delusions of the present day. But if God is one in Essence, there are within that Essence, or Substance, three Persons, each standing in relation to the other as Father, Son and Spirit. Essence gives us an impersonal thought by which we can understand that He fills all space and permeates the universe with life, glory, and majesty. Ephesians 4:6. "Heaven is My throne." Psalms 11:4. Acts 7:49. As such there is one mind, purpose, will and plan, hence, what is true of One, is true of all Three. This explodes for ever what speculative theology has pre-supposed namely, a conflict within the Godhead. To raise a moral question like that would be equal to saying, that God can be at variance with Himself.

God is a Spirit, infinite, Eternal and unchangeable in His Being; full of power, holiness, justice, mercy, goodness and truth. In His natural attributes there is first His eternity. " Art Thou not from everlasting, O Lord my God?" Habakkuk 1:12; Inscrutability. "Even from everlasting to everlasting Thou art God." Psalms 90:2; Omnipotence. "With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26. "The blessed and only Potentate." 1 Timothy 6:15; Omnipresence. "Whither shall I go from Thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from Thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, Thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, Thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall Thy hand lead me and Thy right hand shall hold me." Psalms 139:7-10. The moral attributes are descriptive of His nature and character and come out fully in the working out of purpose in His time ways among men. Thus Righteousness and Holiness describe His character and spring from His nature which is love. 1 John 4:8-14. This last is absolute and exists eternally as constantly reciprocated within the Godhead. He is also Light, but this is relative as standing in relation to darkness and is the exposure of sin, lawlessness and moral disorder. In the very nature of things, what is true of One, is true of all Three as we have said, yet in the working out of the eternal plan, each takes His Own place in relation to the Others. The Father is He by whom every family in heaven and in earth is named; He worketh all things after the counsel of His Own will; He is above all, and through all and as to His children, is in you all. Ephesians 3:15; Ephesians 1:11; Ephesians 4:6. The Son creates. John 1:3. Colossians 1:16. Hebrews 1:2; Redeems. Romans 3:24; Ephesians 1:7. Colossians 1:14; He is also the Judge. John 5:22. By creation He brought in the platform upon which the plan would be wrought out. He became Man to cleanse it and put it on the stable basis of redemption and finally, He will put down all that is offensive and rebellious against God. The Spirit performs the subjective work, working for glory and adornment. His part in creation was to garnish it. Job 26:13. His work in the saints is to array them in the beauty of Christ. Luke 15:22. Colossians 3:12-14. To accomplish this, He uses the word of God. He takes up His abode in the believer and thus becomes the subjective power for spiritual instinct; intuition; inspiration; revelation; and illumination. In this way it is the Holy Spirit which qualifies the saints for service whether for conflict in the kingdom; Levitical service in the testimony; or worship in the sanctuary. He is the power which qualifies for all moral activities whether estimates, values or measures. See Note A. In the counsels of eternity we have a scheme which is the necessity of the divine nature. It is neither dictatorial nor arbitrary. Nor can we say it is the result of a formal agreement between divine Persons. An agreement reached by consultation supposes the probability of a different conclusion. This could not be possible here. God being LOVE in nature, the definite plan is the moral necessity of Who and what He is. Although one in essence, He subsists in three glorious Persons, each having His own day in relation to the eternal plan or purpose. All the time ways of God in the Old Testament had these THREE DAYS IN VIEW. The first is the Spirit’s day. It began at Pentecost and will terminate when the Lord takes the Assembly home. Then will begin the day of the Lord, an event which runs right through the millennial age, and which terminates in the beginning of the day of God which is eternity. All the dealings of God in the Old Testament are included in His time ways and while these days displayed Him before the eyes of all creation, in His nature, character and being, He remained hid behind the veil. All therefore was probationary, testing man in his responsibility as an intelligent moral agent, while governmentally providing both the ground and the material for the fulfilment of His purpose. All was preparatory to the fulfilment of these counsels by the incarnation of the Son, Who, by His death at Calvary, His resurrection and ascension, laid the basis for the accomplishment of these counsels and made way for the coming of the Spirit to inaugurate the new day. As we shall see, we are dependent on the Holy Spirit for all we know of God in His word, but through a misunderstanding or a mistranslation of John 16:13, it has been thought that the Spirit tells us nothing about Himself. Competent authorities tell us it ought to read thus, "He shall not speak from Himself." Compare this with John 5:19, "The Son can do nothing of Himself." Both texts show the mutual activities of Father, Son and Spirit. From the above remarks — which were necessary to guard us from Tritheism on the one hand, which is three gods, or Sabellianism on the other hand, which is one god with three different names — we now proceed to dwell on the office and work of the Holy Spirit.