He has Established His Sovereignty over all, men, devil, and death; established it in every realm
This was the testimony being brought home those forty days; His sovereignty in all these things. He was making them know the literalness of His Person in resurrection to be equal to that in the days of His flesh: He was not a spirit, but literally as real in Person as before His death. Pentecost is the climax to the literalness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.
Next, the emancipation from the limitation of time and space. Still training an instrument for future usefulness! He is no longer bound by limitations of time. He is seeking to bring home to them that, though not seen, His absence is never to be taken for granted. He is there all the time, and there is no time when He is not with them!
Next, the establishment on the ground of their world commission. Forty days is the period of probation which ends in a demand to assume responsibility. After forty years in the wilderness, the Israelites were commanded to occupy the land.
The Third Part of the Training - the Ten Days after His Ascension
Probation and training issue in the taking up of responsibility. Ten is the number of responsibility. See the boards of the Tabernacle ten cubits high and covered with gold. Here you get the type and teaching concerning man's responsibility towards God; man is only able to meet that responsibility (but he is able to meet it!) on the ground of redemption and in the power of the Divine nature.
Ten days were spent in praying, entering into this thing by prayer, busy with no other burden! And oh! with all the revelation He has given us, should it not bring us to our knees in prayer? Pentecost did not come one day short of full prayer preparation; forty days of revelation and then ten days' prayer; a clear manifestation of Himself and His new thing; and the first carrying of that responsibility in ten days of prayer.
And what was the result of that praying? A thrusting out by and in the power of the mighty Holy Spirit, resurrection revelation, a seeing the fields white unto harvest, and then a giving of themselves unto prayer, until sent forth of the Spirit. Vision, prayer, go; yes, that is the Lord's order.
Here is a threefold preparation, and Pentecost is the climax to that preparation, and the ground upon which the Holy Spirit comes.
"Ye are witnesses of these things ... but tarry Ye ... until ye be clothed with power from on high" (Luke 24:48, 49).
"He was received up, after that He had given commandment through the Holy Spirit unto the apostles whom He had chosen: to whom He also showed Himself alive after His passion by many proofs, appearing unto them by the space of forty days, and speaking the things concerning the kingdom of God: and, being assembled together with them, He charged them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, said He, ye heard from Me... ye shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days hence" (Acts 1:2-5).
"Then returned they unto Jerusalem ... these all with one accord continued steadfastly in prayer, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brethren." (Acts 1:12, 14)
~T. Austin-Sparks~
(the end)
Saturday, September 22, 2012
What Part Do I Have?
"Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law" (Romans 3:28)
If God the Father chose us and the Holy Spirit set us aside for His holy purposes, then what part do you and I have?
There is divine sovereignty and human responsibility. You have been sanctified unto obedience. Salvation is free, but you must obey.
God's divine sovereignty in choosing us does not nullify our response to His call. You have been saved out of this world, sent back into this world to witness to the world, and that is the only business you have in this world.
Now, you do not work to be saved. You work because you are saved. Someone has said and I agree: "I will not work my soul to save, that work my Lord has done. But I will work like any slave for the love of God's Son."
Twenty-four hours stand between you and this time tomorrow. Right now, make a commitment to use one of those hours in prayer for others. Ask God to save those who are lost in your family, your neighborhood, your student body, or your workplace. Pray by country or by continent - asking Him to send missionaries and equip them to disciple those He saves.
~Adrian Rogers~
_____________________________________________
"Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust" (2 Peter 1:4)
Some people distort the doctrine that when a man is saved he is always saved. They get the idea if that is true, then they will sin all they want to.
If the only thing that keeps you from sinning is fear of losing your salvation, I wonder if you have really surrendered yourself to God and asked Him to save you?
Peter tells us that we have become "partakers of the divine nature." Does that mean you don't sin any more. No.
Before I was saved, I was running to sin. But afterward, I ran from it. You may slip, but you are saved.
Have a desire to live pure and clean to the glory of God.
Do you have a desire to be holy? Or do you treat the doctrine of assurance as a license to live a sinful life?
~Adrian Rogers~
If God the Father chose us and the Holy Spirit set us aside for His holy purposes, then what part do you and I have?
There is divine sovereignty and human responsibility. You have been sanctified unto obedience. Salvation is free, but you must obey.
God's divine sovereignty in choosing us does not nullify our response to His call. You have been saved out of this world, sent back into this world to witness to the world, and that is the only business you have in this world.
Now, you do not work to be saved. You work because you are saved. Someone has said and I agree: "I will not work my soul to save, that work my Lord has done. But I will work like any slave for the love of God's Son."
Twenty-four hours stand between you and this time tomorrow. Right now, make a commitment to use one of those hours in prayer for others. Ask God to save those who are lost in your family, your neighborhood, your student body, or your workplace. Pray by country or by continent - asking Him to send missionaries and equip them to disciple those He saves.
~Adrian Rogers~
_____________________________________________
"Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust" (2 Peter 1:4)
Some people distort the doctrine that when a man is saved he is always saved. They get the idea if that is true, then they will sin all they want to.
If the only thing that keeps you from sinning is fear of losing your salvation, I wonder if you have really surrendered yourself to God and asked Him to save you?
Peter tells us that we have become "partakers of the divine nature." Does that mean you don't sin any more. No.
Before I was saved, I was running to sin. But afterward, I ran from it. You may slip, but you are saved.
Have a desire to live pure and clean to the glory of God.
Do you have a desire to be holy? Or do you treat the doctrine of assurance as a license to live a sinful life?
~Adrian Rogers~
Friday, September 21, 2012
The Abiding Meaning of Pentecost # 4
Now, Pentecost comes to rule them out utterly; it is no longer themselves but HIM; now they can follow to the death, now they can forgive, the personal has gone, no longer are their interests the predominant thing even in the things of God; but solely and utterly HIS GLORY at any cost.
Pentecost demands that ground, speaks of that ground - we are finished! There is no place for mere soul-force here; soul-force in the things of God is a denial of the Holy Spirit; He is the "Spirit of life in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:2).
It is no longer our efforts, our achievements, we are out of it, and it is henceforth, The Lord did it! That is Pentecost!
The Lord is seeking to get an instrument, by and through which to present the Lord Jesus to the nations as "Prince and Saviour" (Acts 5:31). And there must first be a realization of the absolute sovereignty of the Lord Jesus in the life, before there can be such a presenting of Him to the nations.
Contradiction in life brings weakness in testimony, and there can be no ruling in prayer through being in touch with the Throne, where there is any contradiction, authority in prayer is paralyzed. All this is preparation and training to gain an instrument; an instrument for the enthroned Lord, to meet His need and to establish His sovereignty in the earth.
The Second Part of the Training - the Forty Days after the Resurrection
This is another phase of their training; note the feature of this. It was an establishing in their experience of what He said He was - Resurrection in Person.
In the days of His flesh, He had claimed power over His life, "no one taketh it away from Me ... I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment received I from My Father" (John 10:18), and for forty days He was establishing in their experience what He said He was, and all He had claimed to be. It would have been a catastrophe without those forty days, they would have lost the reality of the living presence of the Lord.
It was also the establishment to them of all He had promised in relation to His resurrection; "I will never leave you." "I am with you always - all the days." "Because I live, ye shall live also." He had made many promises on the ground of resurrection, and came back and established them all; and theirs was a faith in a risen, living and present Lord, and not only in a historic Jesus.
Next, He established the fact that He is Lord of men; and we see the inclusiveness of His claim. All forces that could be used of men were brought in by them to put Him out of existence; but He came back! Man cannot get rid of the Lord Jesus. He is sovereign of men.
Back of men is the devil, he is involved in all this, and he has exhausted himself and resorted to his last weapon, Death. The answer to that is the Resurrection: "I am ... the living One; and I became dead, and behold, I am Alive for Evermore, and I have the keys (authority) of death and of Hades" (Revelation 1:18).
~T. Austin-Sparks~
(continued with # 5)
Pentecost demands that ground, speaks of that ground - we are finished! There is no place for mere soul-force here; soul-force in the things of God is a denial of the Holy Spirit; He is the "Spirit of life in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:2).
It is no longer our efforts, our achievements, we are out of it, and it is henceforth, The Lord did it! That is Pentecost!
The Lord is seeking to get an instrument, by and through which to present the Lord Jesus to the nations as "Prince and Saviour" (Acts 5:31). And there must first be a realization of the absolute sovereignty of the Lord Jesus in the life, before there can be such a presenting of Him to the nations.
Contradiction in life brings weakness in testimony, and there can be no ruling in prayer through being in touch with the Throne, where there is any contradiction, authority in prayer is paralyzed. All this is preparation and training to gain an instrument; an instrument for the enthroned Lord, to meet His need and to establish His sovereignty in the earth.
The Second Part of the Training - the Forty Days after the Resurrection
This is another phase of their training; note the feature of this. It was an establishing in their experience of what He said He was - Resurrection in Person.
In the days of His flesh, He had claimed power over His life, "no one taketh it away from Me ... I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment received I from My Father" (John 10:18), and for forty days He was establishing in their experience what He said He was, and all He had claimed to be. It would have been a catastrophe without those forty days, they would have lost the reality of the living presence of the Lord.
It was also the establishment to them of all He had promised in relation to His resurrection; "I will never leave you." "I am with you always - all the days." "Because I live, ye shall live also." He had made many promises on the ground of resurrection, and came back and established them all; and theirs was a faith in a risen, living and present Lord, and not only in a historic Jesus.
Next, He established the fact that He is Lord of men; and we see the inclusiveness of His claim. All forces that could be used of men were brought in by them to put Him out of existence; but He came back! Man cannot get rid of the Lord Jesus. He is sovereign of men.
Back of men is the devil, he is involved in all this, and he has exhausted himself and resorted to his last weapon, Death. The answer to that is the Resurrection: "I am ... the living One; and I became dead, and behold, I am Alive for Evermore, and I have the keys (authority) of death and of Hades" (Revelation 1:18).
~T. Austin-Sparks~
(continued with # 5)
Why We Lack Understanding
"He commanded them that they should tell no one the things they had seen, till the Son of Man had risen from the dead" (Mark 9:9)
As the disciples were commanded, you should also say nothing until the Son of Man has risen in you - until the life of the risen Christ so dominates you that you truly understand what He taught while here on earth. When you grow and develop the right condition inwardly, the words Jesus spoke become so clear that you are amazed you did not grasp them before. In fact, you were not able to understand them before because you had not yet developed the proper spiritual condition to deal with them.
Our Lord doesn't hide these things from us, but we are not prepared to receive them until we are in the right condition in our spiritual life. Jesus said, "I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now" (John 16:12). We must have a oneness with His risen life before we are prepared to bear any particular truth from Him. Do we really know anything about the indwelling of the risen life of Jesus? The evidence that we do is that His Word is becoming understandable to us. God cannot reveal anything to us if we don't have His Spirit. And our own unyielding and headstrong opinions will effectively prevent God from revealing anything to us. But our insensible thinking will end immediately once His resurrection life has its way with us.
"... tell no one ...". But so many people do tell what they saw on the Mount of Transfiguration - their mountaintop experience. They have seen a vision and they testify to it, but there is no connection between what they say and how they live. Their lives don't add up because the Son of Man has not yet risen in them. How long will it be before His resurrection life is formed and evident in you and in me?
~Oswald Chambers~
As the disciples were commanded, you should also say nothing until the Son of Man has risen in you - until the life of the risen Christ so dominates you that you truly understand what He taught while here on earth. When you grow and develop the right condition inwardly, the words Jesus spoke become so clear that you are amazed you did not grasp them before. In fact, you were not able to understand them before because you had not yet developed the proper spiritual condition to deal with them.
Our Lord doesn't hide these things from us, but we are not prepared to receive them until we are in the right condition in our spiritual life. Jesus said, "I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now" (John 16:12). We must have a oneness with His risen life before we are prepared to bear any particular truth from Him. Do we really know anything about the indwelling of the risen life of Jesus? The evidence that we do is that His Word is becoming understandable to us. God cannot reveal anything to us if we don't have His Spirit. And our own unyielding and headstrong opinions will effectively prevent God from revealing anything to us. But our insensible thinking will end immediately once His resurrection life has its way with us.
"... tell no one ...". But so many people do tell what they saw on the Mount of Transfiguration - their mountaintop experience. They have seen a vision and they testify to it, but there is no connection between what they say and how they live. Their lives don't add up because the Son of Man has not yet risen in them. How long will it be before His resurrection life is formed and evident in you and in me?
~Oswald Chambers~
Thursday, September 20, 2012
The Abiding Meaning of Pentecost # 3
Pentecost was a Recognition and a Proof of all Christ came to be, and all He Taught, and All He Did
All the spiritual value of that comes by Pentecost into its full vindication.
His claim to sovereignty is established by the moral and spiritual results of the Holy Spirit coming into the life of a child of God and transforming it, by causing it to know in experience (not by intellectual argument) the life of His sovereign triumph, that inward reigning in life by Christ Jesus. All that the Lord Jesus taught and did is vindicated by the Holy Spirit in working into the life of the believer the victory of that resurrection life of the Lord Jesus!
The Lord Jesus was vindicated by a mighty experience of the Holy Spirit! It is the spiritual and moral value of the Person, and the bringing of the fruits of that by the Holy Spirit into the life; it is the change the Holy Spirit makes in the moral life that is the vindication of the Lord Jesus. You cannot divorce moral responsibility and spiritual experience, there is no vindication thus, but chaos and contradiction. Pentecost is the climax to the Person, work, and teaching of the Lord Jesus in the days of His flesh, as it gives spiritual and moral value to those in whom He dwells; i.e., proved in experience by the Holy Spirit.
Why did the Holy Spirit come? To make experimental in the life, by the same Holy Spirit, all that Jesus is for the believer. This is the progressive and constructive work of the Holy Spirit, the transforming of men and women.
Pentecost was a Climax in Relation to the Training and Preparation of an Instrument
The first chapter ends with the presentation of that instrument; the completion of the Apostolate with the inclusion of Matthias. An instrument had been trained and prepared for the continued work of the enthroned Lord. This preparation is in three parts: 1. In the days of His flesh; 2. The forty days after His resurrection; 3. The ten days after His ascension.
The First Part of the Training - in the Days of His Flesh
One year after He started His public ministry, He called and had in training for about two years those whom He chose. What were the chief features of that period of training? First, a seeing and a hearing without understanding; a very real thing. As we read the Gospels we see it was a time of laying in of a subconscious store of not understood deeds and words. Oh! but did not the Holy Spirit work on that afterward?! What does the Holy Spirit coming into our life mean? An explaining of Who Jesus is; "He shall receive of Mine, and shall shew it unto you," and until He comes words have not that potent force; "the Spirit giveth life' (John 6:63).
Second, being allowed to participate in the works and supernatural powers, and being given flashes of spiritual revelation; "flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father which is n heaven." Only flashes, immediately passing, but a knowing something of "the powers of the age to come."
Do get the principle of this. Very often the Lord antedates things for us, and then we find them go down into death; but this is training; and has to be in order to get us, our flesh-hold out of it; it is a principle of training, and so the Lord brings us into spiritual cooperation with what He is doing.
Pentecost is necessary to put things into another realm, where the "I" is utterly OUT and the Lord is utterly in. Pentecost is the climax of this. This was all accompanied by and headed up to a complete breakdown and personal failure on the part of the disciples, they failed Him all along the line; see them with the Syrophenician woman, distraught with trouble, crying unto them, "Have mercy on me!" and they "besought Him, saying, "Send her away; for she crieth after us."
Again, "Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? until seven times?" "Lo, we have left all, and followed Thee; what then shall we have?" Bargaining to get more than they gave up! and caring not for the others, only let us be first; ambition for a place of prominence; this is not the spirit of Him Who emptied Himself, and humbled Himself, unto the death of the Cross!
~T. Austin-Sparks~
(continued with # 4)
All the spiritual value of that comes by Pentecost into its full vindication.
His claim to sovereignty is established by the moral and spiritual results of the Holy Spirit coming into the life of a child of God and transforming it, by causing it to know in experience (not by intellectual argument) the life of His sovereign triumph, that inward reigning in life by Christ Jesus. All that the Lord Jesus taught and did is vindicated by the Holy Spirit in working into the life of the believer the victory of that resurrection life of the Lord Jesus!
The Lord Jesus was vindicated by a mighty experience of the Holy Spirit! It is the spiritual and moral value of the Person, and the bringing of the fruits of that by the Holy Spirit into the life; it is the change the Holy Spirit makes in the moral life that is the vindication of the Lord Jesus. You cannot divorce moral responsibility and spiritual experience, there is no vindication thus, but chaos and contradiction. Pentecost is the climax to the Person, work, and teaching of the Lord Jesus in the days of His flesh, as it gives spiritual and moral value to those in whom He dwells; i.e., proved in experience by the Holy Spirit.
Why did the Holy Spirit come? To make experimental in the life, by the same Holy Spirit, all that Jesus is for the believer. This is the progressive and constructive work of the Holy Spirit, the transforming of men and women.
Pentecost was a Climax in Relation to the Training and Preparation of an Instrument
The first chapter ends with the presentation of that instrument; the completion of the Apostolate with the inclusion of Matthias. An instrument had been trained and prepared for the continued work of the enthroned Lord. This preparation is in three parts: 1. In the days of His flesh; 2. The forty days after His resurrection; 3. The ten days after His ascension.
The First Part of the Training - in the Days of His Flesh
One year after He started His public ministry, He called and had in training for about two years those whom He chose. What were the chief features of that period of training? First, a seeing and a hearing without understanding; a very real thing. As we read the Gospels we see it was a time of laying in of a subconscious store of not understood deeds and words. Oh! but did not the Holy Spirit work on that afterward?! What does the Holy Spirit coming into our life mean? An explaining of Who Jesus is; "He shall receive of Mine, and shall shew it unto you," and until He comes words have not that potent force; "the Spirit giveth life' (John 6:63).
Second, being allowed to participate in the works and supernatural powers, and being given flashes of spiritual revelation; "flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father which is n heaven." Only flashes, immediately passing, but a knowing something of "the powers of the age to come."
Do get the principle of this. Very often the Lord antedates things for us, and then we find them go down into death; but this is training; and has to be in order to get us, our flesh-hold out of it; it is a principle of training, and so the Lord brings us into spiritual cooperation with what He is doing.
Pentecost is necessary to put things into another realm, where the "I" is utterly OUT and the Lord is utterly in. Pentecost is the climax of this. This was all accompanied by and headed up to a complete breakdown and personal failure on the part of the disciples, they failed Him all along the line; see them with the Syrophenician woman, distraught with trouble, crying unto them, "Have mercy on me!" and they "besought Him, saying, "Send her away; for she crieth after us."
Again, "Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? until seven times?" "Lo, we have left all, and followed Thee; what then shall we have?" Bargaining to get more than they gave up! and caring not for the others, only let us be first; ambition for a place of prominence; this is not the spirit of Him Who emptied Himself, and humbled Himself, unto the death of the Cross!
~T. Austin-Sparks~
(continued with # 4)
A High Privilege: God Counts Us His Friends
"And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God ... and he was called the friend of God" (James 2:23)
The image of God in man cannot extend to every part of man's being, for God has attributes which He cannot impart to any of His people, however favored.
God is uncreated, self-existent, infinite, sovereign, eternal; these attributes are His alone and by their very definition cannot be shared with another. But there are other attributes which He can impart to His people and in some measure share with His redeemed children.
Intellect, self-consciousness, love, goodness, holiness, pity, faithfulness - these and certain other attributes are the points where likeness between God and man may be achieved. It is here that the divine-human friendship is experienced!
God, being perfect, has capacity for perfect friendship. Man, being imperfect, can never quite know perfection in anything, least of all in his relationship to the incomprehensible Godhead.
The more perfect our friendship with God becomes the simpler will our lives be. Those formalities that are so necessary to keep a casual friendship alive may be dispensed with when true friends sit in each other's presence. True friends trust each other.
Unquestionably the highest privilege granted to man on earth is to be admitted into the circle of the friends of God. Nothing is important enough to be allowed to stand in the way of our relation to God. We should see to it that nothing on earth shall separate us from God's friendship!
~A. W. Tozer~
The image of God in man cannot extend to every part of man's being, for God has attributes which He cannot impart to any of His people, however favored.
God is uncreated, self-existent, infinite, sovereign, eternal; these attributes are His alone and by their very definition cannot be shared with another. But there are other attributes which He can impart to His people and in some measure share with His redeemed children.
Intellect, self-consciousness, love, goodness, holiness, pity, faithfulness - these and certain other attributes are the points where likeness between God and man may be achieved. It is here that the divine-human friendship is experienced!
God, being perfect, has capacity for perfect friendship. Man, being imperfect, can never quite know perfection in anything, least of all in his relationship to the incomprehensible Godhead.
The more perfect our friendship with God becomes the simpler will our lives be. Those formalities that are so necessary to keep a casual friendship alive may be dispensed with when true friends sit in each other's presence. True friends trust each other.
Unquestionably the highest privilege granted to man on earth is to be admitted into the circle of the friends of God. Nothing is important enough to be allowed to stand in the way of our relation to God. We should see to it that nothing on earth shall separate us from God's friendship!
~A. W. Tozer~
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
The Abiding Meaning of Pentecost # 2
Pentecost Linked with all the Old Testament Scriptures
and was the climax to all that had been written. The Holy Spirit came with the full virtue of everything that had been written in the Old Testament concerning Christ to make them real and to fulfill them; to bring those fulfillments into the personal experience of the believer. The Holy Spirit's advent was to make all the Old Testament a manifested fulfillment in the Person of Christ Jesus.
In this record of Acts 2 there is a breaking up and opening of the meaning of the Scriptures. Joel; what was the burden of the Word to Joel? "The Day of the Lord" "But this is that which hath been spoken through the Prophet Joel." "This is that," the day when the Lord came into His own. We speak of having our day; the Lord comes into His day. Pentecost is the Lord coming into His day, He is enthroned; and this Day of the Lord is in two parts; the former took place at Pentecost, and the latter part is in the Book of Revelation.
Pentecost was the introduction of the "Day of the Lord" on the grace side of His sovereignty, and in the Apocalypse it is the judgment side of His sovereignty - one day, but in two halves; and as surely as the Lord Jesus has commenced His reign in grace, so surely He will take the rod of iron to smash the nations in judgment who resist and reject His reign in grace.
The Day of the Lord is in our hearts now. He is sovereign Lord; and so He is offered to the nations in grace, but also we have a message of authority, and if there is a refusal of His grace, there must be an acknowledgement of that sovereignty in judgment; for everything shall confess Jesus Christ is Lord.
"Wherefore, also God highly exalted Him, and gave unto Him the name which is above every name .. and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Phil. 2:9, 11).
In another part of the same record the link is with David and Solomon. With David and Solomon you have introduced a revelation of grace, glory and wonder; it needs the two persons to illustrate the reign and work of the Lord Jesus; and you come into Pentecost where it has its fulfillment and spiritual realization.
David and Solomon are types of the Person of the Lord Jesus, in His work and reign; He is David and He is Solomon, but He transcends them both; He takes up all that is typical in them and fulfills it in His own Person: Pentecost is the climax to the Old Testament Scriptures concerning Christ.
Now as to the Person, life and teaching of the Lord Jesus in the days of His flesh.
~T. Austin-Sparks~
(continued with # 3 - "Pentecost was a Recognition and a Proof of all Christ Came to Be, and all He Taught, and all He Did")
and was the climax to all that had been written. The Holy Spirit came with the full virtue of everything that had been written in the Old Testament concerning Christ to make them real and to fulfill them; to bring those fulfillments into the personal experience of the believer. The Holy Spirit's advent was to make all the Old Testament a manifested fulfillment in the Person of Christ Jesus.
In this record of Acts 2 there is a breaking up and opening of the meaning of the Scriptures. Joel; what was the burden of the Word to Joel? "The Day of the Lord" "But this is that which hath been spoken through the Prophet Joel." "This is that," the day when the Lord came into His own. We speak of having our day; the Lord comes into His day. Pentecost is the Lord coming into His day, He is enthroned; and this Day of the Lord is in two parts; the former took place at Pentecost, and the latter part is in the Book of Revelation.
Pentecost was the introduction of the "Day of the Lord" on the grace side of His sovereignty, and in the Apocalypse it is the judgment side of His sovereignty - one day, but in two halves; and as surely as the Lord Jesus has commenced His reign in grace, so surely He will take the rod of iron to smash the nations in judgment who resist and reject His reign in grace.
The Day of the Lord is in our hearts now. He is sovereign Lord; and so He is offered to the nations in grace, but also we have a message of authority, and if there is a refusal of His grace, there must be an acknowledgement of that sovereignty in judgment; for everything shall confess Jesus Christ is Lord.
"Wherefore, also God highly exalted Him, and gave unto Him the name which is above every name .. and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Phil. 2:9, 11).
In another part of the same record the link is with David and Solomon. With David and Solomon you have introduced a revelation of grace, glory and wonder; it needs the two persons to illustrate the reign and work of the Lord Jesus; and you come into Pentecost where it has its fulfillment and spiritual realization.
David and Solomon are types of the Person of the Lord Jesus, in His work and reign; He is David and He is Solomon, but He transcends them both; He takes up all that is typical in them and fulfills it in His own Person: Pentecost is the climax to the Old Testament Scriptures concerning Christ.
Now as to the Person, life and teaching of the Lord Jesus in the days of His flesh.
~T. Austin-Sparks~
(continued with # 3 - "Pentecost was a Recognition and a Proof of all Christ Came to Be, and all He Taught, and all He Did")
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