The Acts of the Apostles
by Ellen G. White
Chapter 5: The Gift of the Spirit
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When Christ gave His disciples the promise of the Spirit, He
was nearing the close of His earthly ministry. He was standing in the shadow of
the cross, with a full realization of the load of guilt that was to rest upon
Him as the Sin Bearer. Before offering Himself as the sacrificial victim, He
instructed His disciples regarding a most essential and complete gift which He
was to bestow upon His followers—the gift that would bring within
their reach the boundless resources of His grace. "I will pray the
Father," He said, "and He shall give you another Comforter, that He
may abide with you forever; even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot
receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him: but ye know Him; for He
dwelleth with you, and shall be in you." John 14:16, 17. The Saviour was
pointing forward to the time when the Holy Spirit should come to do a mighty
work as His representative. The evil that had been accumulating for centuries [48]
was to be resisted by the divine power of the Holy Spirit. {AA 47.1}
What was the result of the outpouring of the Spirit on the
Day of Pentecost? The glad tidings of a risen Saviour were carried to the
uttermost parts of the inhabited world. As the disciples proclaimed the message
of redeeming grace, hearts yielded to the power of this message. The church
beheld converts flocking to her from all directions. Backsliders were
reconverted. Sinners united with believers in seeking the pearl of great price.
Some who had been the bitterest opponents of the gospel became its champions.
The prophecy was fulfilled, "He that is feeble . . . shall be as
David; and the house of David . . . as the angel of the Lord."
Zechariah 12:8. Every Christian saw in his brother a revelation of divine love
and benevolence. One interest prevailed; one subject of emulation swallowed up
all others. The ambition of the believers was to reveal the likeness of
Christ's character and to labor for the enlargement of His kingdom. {AA 48.1}
"With great power gave the apostles witness of the
resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all." Acts
4:33. Under their labors were added to the church chosen men, who, receiving
the word of truth, consecrated their lives to the work of giving to others the
hope that filled their hearts with peace and joy. They could not be restrained
or intimidated by threatenings. The Lord spoke through them, and as they went
from place to place, the poor had the gospel preached to them, and miracles of
divine grace were wrought. [49] {AA 48.2}
So mightily can God work when men give themselves up to the
control of His Spirit. {AA
49.1}
The promise of the Holy Spirit is not limited to any age or
to any race. Christ declared that the divine influence of His Spirit was to be
with His followers unto the end. From the Day of Pentecost to the present time,
the Comforter has been sent to all who have yielded themselves fully to the
Lord and to His service. To all who have accepted Christ as a personal Saviour,
the Holy Spirit has come as a counselor, sanctifier, guide, and witness. The
more closely believers have walked with God, the more clearly and powerfully
have they testified of their Redeemer's love and of His saving grace. The men
and women who through the long centuries of persecution and trial enjoyed a
large measure of the presence of the Spirit in their lives, have stood as signs
and wonders in the world. Before angels and men they have revealed the
transforming power of redeeming love. {AA 49.2}
Those who at Pentecost were endued with power from on high,
were not thereby freed from further temptation and trial. As they witnessed for
truth and righteousness they were repeatedly assailed by the enemy of all
truth, who sought to rob them of their Christian experience. They were
compelled to strive with all their God-given powers to reach the measure of the
stature of men and women in Christ Jesus. Daily they prayed for fresh supplies
of grace, that they might reach higher and still higher toward perfection.
Under the Holy Spirit's working even the weakest, [50] by
exercising faith in God, learned to improve their entrusted powers and to
become sanctified, refined, and ennobled. As in humility they submitted to the
molding influence of the Holy Spirit, they received of the fullness of the
Godhead and were fashioned in the likeness of the divine. {AA 49.3}
The lapse of time has wrought no change in Christ's parting
promise to send the Holy Spirit as His representative. It is not because of any
restriction on the part of God that the riches of His grace do not flow
earthward to men. If the fulfillment of the promise is not seen as it might be,
it is because the promise is not appreciated as it should be. If all were
willing, all would be filled with the Spirit. Wherever the need of the Holy
Spirit is a matter little thought of, there is seen spiritual drought,
spiritual darkness, spiritual declension and death. Whenever minor matters
occupy the attention, the divine power which is necessary for the growth and
prosperity of the church, and which would bring all other blessings in its
train, is lacking, though offered in infinite plenitude. {AA 50.1}
Since this is the means by which we are to receive power,
why do we not hunger and thirst for the gift of the Spirit? Why do we not talk
of it, pray for it, and preach concerning it? The Lord is more willing to give
the Holy Spirit to those who serve Him than parents are to give good gifts to
their children. For the daily baptism of the Spirit every worker should offer
his petition to God. Companies of Christian workers should gather to ask for
special help, for heavenly wisdom, that they may know how to plan and execute
wisely. Especially should they pray that God will baptize [51] His
chosen ambassadors in mission fields with a rich measure of His Spirit. The
presence of the Spirit with God's workers will give the proclamation of truth a
power that not all the honor or glory of the world could give. {AA 50.2}
With the consecrated worker for God, in whatever place he
may be, the Holy Spirit abides. The words spoken to the disciples are spoken
also to us. The Comforter is ours as well as theirs. The Spirit furnishes the
strength that sustains striving, wrestling souls in every emergency, amidst the
hatred of the world, and the realization of their own failures and mistakes. In
sorrow and affliction, when the outlook seems dark and the future perplexing,
and we feel helpless and alone,—these are the times when, in answer
to the prayer of faith, the Holy Spirit brings comfort to the heart. {AA 51.1}
It is not a conclusive evidence that a man is a Christian
because he manifests spiritual ecstasy under extraordinary circumstances. Holiness
is not rapture: it is an entire surrender of the will to God; it is living by
every word that proceeds from the mouth of God; it is doing the will of our
heavenly Father; it is trusting God in trial, in darkness as well as in the
light; it is walking by faith and not by sight; it is relying on God with
unquestioning confidence, and resting in His love. {AA 51.2}
It is not essential for us to be able to define just what
the Holy Spirit is. Christ tells us that the Spirit is the Comforter, "the
Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father." It is plainly declared
regarding the Holy Spirit that, in His work of guiding men into all truth,
"He shall not speak of Himself." John 15:26; 16:13. [52]
{AA 51.3}
The nature of the Holy Spirit is a mystery. Men cannot
explain it, because the Lord has not revealed it to them. Men having fanciful
views may bring together passages of Scripture and put a human construction on
them, but the acceptance of these views will not strengthen the church.
Regarding such mysteries, which are too deep for human understanding, silence
is golden. {AA 52.1}
The office of the Holy Spirit is distinctly specified in the
words of Christ: "When He is come, He will reprove the world of sin, and
of righteousness, and of judgment." John 16:8. It is the Holy Spirit that
convicts of sin. If the sinner responds to the quickening influence of the
Spirit, he will be brought to repentance and aroused to the importance of
obeying the divine requirements. {AA 52.2}
To the repentant sinner, hungering and thirsting for
righteousness, the Holy Spirit reveals the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin
of the world. "He shall receive of Mine, and shall show it unto you,"
Christ said. "He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your
remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." John 16:14; 14:26. {AA 52.3}
The Spirit is given as a regenerating agency, to make
effectual the salvation wrought by the death of our Redeemer. The Spirit is
constantly seeking to draw the attention of men to the great offering that was
made on the cross of Calvary, to unfold to the world the love of God, and to
open to the convicted soul the precious things of the Scriptures. {AA 52.4}
Having brought conviction of sin, and presented before the
mind the standard of righteousness, the Holy Spirit [53]
withdraws the affections from the things of this earth and fills the soul with
a desire for holiness. "He will guide you into all truth" (John
16:13), the Saviour declared. If men are willing to be molded, there will be
brought about a sanctification of the whole being. The Spirit will take the
things of God and stamp them on the soul. By His power the way of life will be
made so plain that none need err therein. {AA 52.5}
From the beginning, God has been working by His Holy Spirit
through human instrumentalities for the accomplishment of His purpose in behalf
of the fallen race. This was manifest in the lives of the patriarchs. To the
church in the wilderness also, in the time of Moses, God gave His "good
Spirit to instruct them." Nehemiah 9:20. And in the days of the apostles
He wrought mightily for His church through the agency of the Holy Spirit. The
same power that sustained the patriarchs, that gave Caleb and Joshua faith and
courage, and that made the work of the apostolic church effective, has upheld
God's faithful children in every succeeding age. It was through the power of
the Holy Spirit that during the Dark Ages the Waldensian Christians helped to
prepare the way for the Reformation. It was the same power that made successful
the efforts of the noble men and women who pioneered the way for the
establishment of modern missions and for the translation of the Bible into the
languages and dialects of all nations and peoples. {AA 53.1}
And today God is still using His church to make known His
purpose in the earth. Today the heralds of the cross are going from city to
city, and from land to land, preparing [54] the way
for the second advent of Christ. The standard of God's law is being exalted.
The Spirit of the Almighty is moving upon men's hearts, and those who respond
to its influence become witnesses for God and His truth. In many places
consecrated men and women may be seen communicating to others the light that
has made plain to them the way of salvation through Christ. And as they
continue to let their light shine, as did those who were baptized with the
Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, they receive more and still more of the
Spirit's power. Thus the earth is to be lightened with the glory of God. {AA 53.2}
On the other hand, there are some who, instead of wisely
improving present opportunities, are idly waiting for some special season of
spiritual refreshing by which their ability to enlighten others will be greatly
increased. They neglect present duties and privileges, and allow their light to
burn dim, while they look forward to a time when, without any effort on their
part, they will be made the recipients of special blessing, by which they will
be transformed and fitted for service. {AA 54.1}
It is true that in the time of the end, when God's work in
the earth is closing, the earnest efforts put forth by consecrated believers
under the guidance of the Holy Spirit are to be accompanied by special tokens
of divine favor. Under the figure of the early and the latter rain, that falls
in Eastern lands at seedtime and harvest, the Hebrew prophets foretold the
bestowal of spiritual grace in extraordinary measure upon God's church. The
outpouring of the Spirit in the days of the apostles was the beginning of the
early, or [55] former, rain, and glorious was the result. To
the end of time the presence of the Spirit is to abide with the true church. {AA 54.2}
But near the close of earth's harvest, a special bestowal of
spiritual grace is promised to prepare the church for the coming of the Son of
man. This outpouring of the Spirit is likened to the falling of the latter
rain; and it is for this added power that Christians are to send their
petitions to the Lord of the harvest "in the time of the latter
rain." In response, "the Lord shall make bright clouds, and give them
showers of rain." "He will cause to come down . . . the
rain, the former rain, and the latter rain," Zechariah 10:1; Joel 2:23. {AA 55.1}
But unless the members of God's church today have a living
connection with the Source of all spiritual growth, they will not be ready for
the time of reaping. Unless they keep their lamps trimmed and burning, they
will fail of receiving added grace in times of special need. {AA 55.2}
Those only who are constantly receiving fresh supplies of
grace, will have power proportionate to their daily need and their ability to
use that power. Instead of looking forward to some future time when, through a
special endowment of spiritual power, they will receive a miraculous fitting up
for soul winning, they are yielding themselves daily to God, that He may make
them vessels meet for His use. Daily they are improving the opportunities for
service that lie within their reach. Daily they are witnessing for the Master
wherever they may be, whether in some humble sphere of labor in the home, or in
a public field of usefulness. [56] {AA 55.3}
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To the consecrated worker there is wonderful consolation in
the knowledge that even Christ during His life on earth sought His Father daily
for fresh supplies of needed grace; and from this communion with God He went
forth to strengthen and bless others. Behold the Son of God bowed in prayer to
His Father! Though He is the Son of God, He strengthens His faith by prayer,
and by communion with heaven gathers to Himself power to resist evil and to
minister to the needs of men. As the Elder Brother of our race He knows the
necessities of those who, compassed with infirmity and living in a world of sin
and temptation, still desire to serve Him. He knows that the messengers whom He
sees fit to send are weak, erring men; but to all who give themselves wholly to
His service He promises divine aid. His own example is an assurance that
earnest, persevering supplication to God in faith—faith that leads to
entire dependence upon God, and unreserved consecration to His work—will
avail to bring to men the Holy Spirit's aid in the battle against sin. {AA 56.1}
Every worker who follows the example of Christ will be
prepared to receive and use the power that God has promised to His church for
the ripening of earth's harvest. Morning by morning, as the heralds of the
gospel kneel before the Lord and renew their vows of consecration to Him, He
will grant them the presence of His Spirit, with its reviving, sanctifying
power. As they go forth to the day's duties, they have the assurance that the
unseen agency of the Holy Spirit enables them to be "laborers together
with God." {AA 56.2}
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"At the Temple Gate"
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