Waiting For The Coming Of The Holy Spirit

by J. Miller | Category: The Growth Of The Fellowship | Jan 1959

In this series of articles we propose to discuss with our readers the growth of that Fellowship in which the disciples of the Lord continued steadfastly (Acts 2.42), and which in time grew and found expression in the churches of the Gentiles, as in Corinth, whereof we read, "God is faithful, through whom ye were called into the Fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord" (1 Corinthians 1.9). The Greek word koinonia, which is derived from koinos which means common, belonging equally to several, may signify in its various uses in the New Testament Scriptures a community of people or society of people who hold or share things in common, as in the scriptures quoted above. It is also used to describe the experience of sharing in common, as in 1 John 1, where the sharing is in spiritual things by those who were privileged to company with the Lord during His earthly ministry, and this experience was to continue amongst such as had known His grace through the inspired records which those men left behind. Again the word is used in connexion with the sharing in things material which meet bodily needs, as in Romans 15.26, and here the word is rendered " contribution."

Our present article will not discuss the different uses of the word as to its use in describing communion or participating and so forth, but as to its application to that community of people who were united together in receiving collectively the Word of God proper to this dispensation of grace and carrying out what the Word of God enjoined upon them. This community took definite shape in Jerusalem and was identified as the church of God in that city (Acts 8.1 ; 1 Corinthians 15.9; Galatians 1.13).

It is quite clear to the ordinary reader of the Scriptures that a new, divine movement was on foot with the appearance of John the Baptist. For some four hundred years from the time of Malachi the voice of the prophet was not heard in Israel. God had closed His door as to sending men to warn His people in their backsliding from Him. He also wished that the doors of His house, built by the remnant which had returned from Babylon amidst many difficulties, would be closed. He said, "Oh that there were one among you that would shut the doors, that ye might not kindle fire on Mine altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you, saith the LORD of hosts, neither will I accept an offering at your hand" (Malachi 1. 10). Though such was the state of things in Malachi's days, God did not leave His house, as He did before the coming of Nebuchadnezzar, as is described in Ezekiel 10. He bore with the evil manners of His people, looking forward to the time when He would have unbounded pleasure in His Son, who was at the end of those days to come to that house, the zeal of which should eat Him up (John 2.17).

At length, when the darkness of apostasy had settled down upon the Jewish people, when forms had taken the place of faith, and lust had driven out love, far out in the wilderness a voice was heard which in due time reverberated through the land, "Repent ye; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand"(Matthew 3.1, 2). It was the voice of John the Baptist, that man who was filled with the Holy Spirit from his birth. He had been spoken of by both Isaiah and Malachi. He was a prophet truly, but much more than a prophet, for of those who were born of women there had not arisen a greater than he.

His was a fiery message. Three times in Matthew 3 he speaks of the fire of divine punishment. (1) He speaks of God as the Divine Woodman cutting down the trees which brought not forth good fruit (verse 10). This has been God's normal way of dealing with men. The end of such was that they were cast into the fire. (2) Then he deals with that which is proper to this dispensation in which the gospel of God's grace is preached. He says, "I indeed baptize you with (in) water unto repentance: but He that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: He shall baptize you with (or, in) the Holy Spirit and with (or, in) fire" (verse 11). The preaching of the gospel has one of two results, either the person who hears it believes and is baptized by the Lord in the Holy Spirit into the Body of Christ (Acts 1.5 ; 1 Corinthians 12. 18), or rejects the divine message and is baptized in fire, which is the fire of hell, which will at last give up the dead that are therein, as Revelation 20.11-15 shows. (3) Then when the Lord as the Son of Man returns to earth in judgement, He comes to winnow the righteous from the wicked, when the wicked who are compared to chaff will be burnt up with unquenchable fire (verse 12). The Lord spoke of this dire day for the wicked in many parts of the Gospel according to Matthew. It was no wonder that the multitudes fled from such impending judgement to John at the river Jordan to be baptized by Him with the baptism of repentance. Thither they came confessing their sins.

Amongst them came the Lord; but He had no sins to confess. John would have hindered Him, but that word from the Lord settled John's mind, " Suffer it now : for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered Him" (verse 15). The Spirit of God descended upon Him as a dove and abode upon Him, and the Father in unbounded love and delight said, " This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." In contrast to this delightful scene was that of the coming of the Pharisees and Sadducees. These John would not baptize, and he said to them, "Ye offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? " (verse 7). The cleavage between John and the Jewish leaders could not have been wider. Though John was the son of a priest in one of the highest offices of the priesthood of Aaron, yet he did not follow his father in the temple service. His ministry was outside; and if men would follow in the way of the Lord (Luke 3.4; Acts 18. 2~, 26), then they must go out to him, and not in to him into the temple. Thus it says, "Then went out unto him Jerusalem, and all Judea, and all the region round about Jordan" (Matthew 3.5).

What was the purpose in the coming of John the Baptist? It is explained by the angel of the Lord to his father Zacharias, that he would "go before His face in the Spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to walk in the wisdom of the just; to make ready for the Lord a people prepared for Him" (Luke 1.17). Thus, through the ministry and baptism of John, we have a new people in view, a people not finding the centre of their religious life in the priests of the house of Aaron and their place of service in the temple, but a people who followed the teaching of John. Such a people would have been sectarian, and John would have been guilty of causing a schism in the Jewish people, which was already split in factions and sects, had it not been, as we see clearly now, that he was God's messenger who faithfully delivered His message.

In pictorial language in John 10 the Lord tells how He came to the porter, John the Baptist, and entered the fold by baptism, as the sheep had done. The obligation which John's baptism placed on the sheep, as Paul shows in Acts 19.4, was, to use Paul's own words, "John baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on Him which should come after him, that is, on Jesus." The difference between this and Christian baptism was in the fact that repentance and faith were separated; those who were baptized repented and confessed their sins, but they had yet to believe in the Christ whom John was to identify as the Lamb of God, and the Son of God. Paul's gospel message combined both, repentance toward God and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 20.21), for by Paul's time the Lord had been manifested. The Lord tells us that when He, the Good Shepherd, the Shepherd of the sheep, entered the fold of which John was the porter He called His own sheep who were therein by name and led them out, and when He had put forth all His own He went before them and the sheep followed Him, for they knew His voice; also, that a stranger they would not follow, but would flee from him, for they knew not the voice of strangers. The working out of this is seen in the case of Andrew and John the apostle, that when John the Baptist said twice on the same day, "Behold the Lamb of God," they left John and followed Jesus. Thus it was that John the Baptist's work developed into that little band of faithful men and women who not only were believers that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the Living God, but were His disciples, His followers, who obeyed what He taught and practised true Christ-like living.

Though Israel nationally could not believe in Christ or receive Him as King Messiah, we are told, "Nevertheless even of the rulers many believed on Him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess it, lest they should be put out of the synagogue: for they loved the glory of men more than the glory of God" (John 12.37-43). Thus we have amongst the Jewish people a class who secretly believed in the Lord, yet because of present fame and fleeting gain they were not. found amongst the Lord's disciples. This we believe is true of a large number of believers in our day, and also no doubt true throughout all time since the Lord was here. It was for those scattered believers that the Lord died, not that they might be saved eternally, but that they might be gathered into one (thing). The prophecy of Caiaphas, the Jewish high priest, should be quoted here regarding purposes in the Lord's death which are by many overlooked. "Ye know nothing at all, nor do ye take account that it is expedient for you that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not. Now this he said not of himself: but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for the nation (of Israel); and not for the nation only, but that He might also gather together into one the children of God that are scattered abroad. So from that day forth they took counsel that they might put Him to death" (John 11.49-53). It is evident that the understanding of Caiaphas was quite different from the mind of the Spirit who spoke by him. Caiaphas thought it was necessary to kill the Lord and so stop Him from teaching the people as He had been doing and causing another sect, " the sect of the Nazarenes " (Acts 24. 5), for. His teaching was one of showing the true meaning of the law-love, mercy and faith-which found no place in the formal and ritual teaching of the Jewish leaders. The Lord's teaching was one of non-resistance of aggressors, but of striving against sin, and suffering in consequence. Thus it was that during the Lord's earthly ministry a large number of believers walked in the way of the world, and a few walked with the Lord, and were in consequence hated by the world as the world hated Him. These are facts that the children of God in our time do well to take to heart, if they would seek to win the Lord's well-done in the day to come. One thing is certain: we cannot walk both with the Lord and the world. The path of rejection with the rejected Lord is clearly taught in the Scriptures. Believers need to learn the truth of divine separation, which is indicated in Hebrews 13.12, 13, in being "without the camp" with Him who suffered " without the gate." Even in the Lord's time on earth there were a without and a within (Mark 4.10, 11), which does not mean that " within " included all believers and " without" all unbelievers. See the following scriptures which make the matter quite clear, that "within" refers to those who were divinely gathered together and I "without" refers to such as were not so gathered (1 Corinthians 5.12,13; Colossians 4.5; 1 Thessalonians 4.12; 1 Timothy 3.7).

It was to the apostles, the faithful band of men who were destined to be the leaders of that Fellowship, that Community, which was of God's Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, that the Lord spoke so much in John chapters 14, 15 and 16 of the coming of the Holy Spirit, the other Comforter, and a few evenings after, when He had been crucified and raised again from the dead, He appeared to His disciples as they were gathered together with the doors shut for fear of the Jews. He showed them His hands and feet and side wherein were the marks of His passion. His message to them was one of Peace. "The disciples were glad when they saw the Lord." He breathed on them and said, "Receive ye the Holy Spirit." Then He said, "Whose soever sins ye forgive, they are forgiven unto them; whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained" (John 20.19-23). It is quite evident that the Lord's words do not mean that the future happiness of men is placed in a church or any body of men of a priestly class. The forgiveness of sins in the New Testament is clearly taught in three senses (1) the forgiveness of the lost sinner, (2) the forgiveness of the children of God, and (3) the forgiveness of the servants of God. In (1) forgiveness is the portion of every sinner who believes in Christ who offered Himself as an atoning sacrifice for sins on Calvary's cross, as Peter said to Cornelius and his household, "To Him (Christ) bear all the prophets witness, that through His name every one that believeth on Him shall receive remission of sins" (Acts 10.48). This is the testimony of the gospel everywhere in the New Testament. Faith and faith alone in Christ saves the sinner without the mediation of any priest or minister. As to (2), the child of God has to confess known sin which he has committed to his Father in heaven, and God is faithful and righteous to forgive him the sin which he has committed, and the blood of Jesus His Son will cleanse him from all sin (1 John 1.5-10). This also is effected without priest or minister. Then as to (3), this brings us to the meaning of John 20.23. It is clear that it is the will of God that children of God should be gathered together as the Lord's disciples in churches of God to carry out the Lord's will. In their collective service, in which the behaviour of each has its effect on the testimony of all, it is the responsibility of the church wherein disciples are gathered to deal with sin committed by any one of the disciples. Sins are mentioned in 1 Corinthians 5.9-13 (and the list is added to in chapter 6. 9, 10) which it was the responsibility of the church of God to deal with in any of their number. And thus it happened that they had to excommunicate one of their number for fornication. So long as he remained unrepentant his sin was retained, but when he repented, the church was called upon by Paul to forgive him and to restore him to fellowship again (2 Corinthians 2.5-11). Putting away by the church of a brother because of unrepented sin against a brother is taught in Matthew 18.15 -18, and for heresy, in Titus 3.10, 11. Such then is the meaning of John 20.23. Behaviour and testimony are ever joined together, and in this paragraph He was sending forth His disciples as His Father had sent Him.

In the sending of them forth as His witnesses, " He charged them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, said He, ye have heard from Me: for John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days hence" (Acts 1.4, 5). These words were spoken some days after His appearance to the disciples in the evening of the resurrection. Quite evidently they had been to the mountain in Galilee, where they received the great commission (Matthew 28.7, 10, 16-20), for they were now told not to depart from Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit had come. No power but that of the Holy Spirit could carry on the work of the Lord against the combined forces of the devil, demons and men. His disciples were anxious to know if it was their Lord's will to restore at that time the kingdom to Israel, for in them there was a strong vein of nationalism. They were told, "It is not for you to know times or seasons, which the Father hath set within His own authority. But ye shall receive power, when the Holy Spirit is come upon you : and ye shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth" (Acts 1.7, 8). This was His parting message to them, for it says, "When He had said these things, as they were looking, He was taken up; and a cloud received Him out of their sight" (verse 9). They returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were found there engaged in prayer as they waited for the coming of the Holy Spirit of promise. The coming of the Blessed Spirit took place on the day of Pentecost, as is recorded in Acts 2.

J. Miller | Jan 1959
The Growth Of The Fellowship