March 22, 2013

Hiya, Folks! This is the best day of your life! Sure it is. Yesterday’s gone, and tomorrow isn’t here yet. Fact is, if you were any better, you’d be dangerous! Hohohohoho…….

 

Now wouldn’t you rather start the day like that instead of some old cranky, wheezy, whiny, “I jus’ don’t know if I oughtta get outta bed t’day or not! My bones are jus’ so tarred! Reckon, I gots to, though. Won’t get nuthin done in bed…..groan….”

 

See. Get your spirits livened up. Get your mind alert. Grab a good cup of that really dark double French Roast made in the French Press, or somethin’ like that! Wake up, sleepy!

 

Let's pick up where we left off last week. I made the observation that the Bible is not "The Word!" Jesus Christ is The Word!

 

Here's how the apostle Paul expressed things, "All Scripture is God-breathed and advantageous and profitable for teaching, for conviction, for correction, for [the] discipline which [comes] in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete and fully fitted for that excellence with which he is occupied." (II Timothy 3:16-17 -- my translation)

 

Do you get it? Do you understand the significance of this statement? The phrase, "for [the] discipline which [comes] in righteousness," makes clear the fact that the Scripture is "advantageous and profitable" for those who are dikaiosune: walking (currently living) in an ongoing state or condition of rightly-related personal relationship with the Lord. One does not walk with words on a piece of paper; they walk with someone who is alive and personally close! The Scripture, therefore, has been given for the purpose of witnessing to and with that which Jesus Christ is saying to us personally.

 

On at least five occasions, Jesus made the statement, "I speak to you in truth," or, "Of truth I say to you........" It was impossible for Him to speak out of anything but Truth, since Truth was an essential part of His character and makeup. Truth, likewise, was integral to the existence of Holy Spirit.

 

At the Last Supper, as Jesus was sharing with the disciples the specifics of the Bridegroom/Bride relationship, He made a specific promise concerning the coming of the Paraklete. Virtually everything He had shared up to this point during the supper was drawn from the classical Jewish wedding as He drew a picture of Himself as the Bridegroom, and the disciples (along with all who would follow later) as the Bride.

 

In keeping with the well-established custom of a Bridegroom sending a Paraklete to comfort the Bride-to-be during the absence of the Bridegroom (as he prepared their marital home), and prepare her for the day of joining, Jesus now said, "I will ask the Father, and He will give you a different comforter -- the Paraklete -- who will remain with you forever: the Spirit of Truth, whom the world has not the power to receive, because it does not see Him nor perceive Him, but you know Him because He abides with you, and shall be in you." (John 14:17 -- my translation)

 

In so saying, Jesus has made clear that this "different comforter," the Paraklete, is One with Him. Only moments before, Jesus had said to Thomas, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life." (John 14:6)

 

Now He has said that He will send the Paraklete, whom He refers to as "The Spirit of Truth." Obviously if Jesus was "The Truth," and the Paraklete was "The Spirit of Truth," they were in absolute harmony and unity with one another, and the Paraklete was coming to* "....be in you." (*see note below)

 

You follow His train of logic, I am sure!

 

If Jesus' onoma was "The Truth," Holy Spirit was also "The Spirit of Truth," and they were One with each other, and He -- The Spirit of Truth -- abides with us, and in us, it follows that we all become One -- in Truth!

 

O.K. so far?

 

Let's look at it another way. Part of Jesus' onoma incorporates the Spirit of Truth. Part of the character of the Spirit of Grace is to comfort. Jesus was, therefore, a Comforter. He described the Paraklete as being The Spirit of Truth. He also described Him as being "another comforter." Yet, they were One, both being part of the triune Godhead. The Father, therefore, was Truth.

 

If He, the Spirit of Truth, dwells with us, and also in us, He becomes a part of our onoma. We, therefore, have experienced an initial change of our onoma so as to become like Him. The Paraklete dwells with us so as to guide us into all Truth. He dwells in us so as to mold, shape, and change our onoma so as to make us One -- not only with Him -- but also with our Bridegroom-to-be. This is imperative if we are to be like Jesus when we see Him.

 

[*Note: It is worthy of notation that the particular phraseology in John 14:17 puts the Holy Spirit with us at all times. However, Jesus says that He "shall be in you." This is a future-tense promise conditional upon our response to the Paraklete. I believe that the experience which we have come to know as the "baptism in the Holy Spirit" is the initiating place for the fulfillment of that promise. Those who have been "saved" but not yet baptized in the Holy Spirit, are, for the most part, relegated to external leadership by the Paraklete (through the unfolding of physical or natural events) because they lack the ability to hear "in the Spirit." External leadership is vastly different than internal leadership.]

 

Later, at the Last Supper, Jesus said, "When He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth..." (John 16:13 KJV)

 

When Holy Spirit came, we are told that "They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave to them to utter forth." (Acts 2:4 -- literal translation)

 

Obviously the Spirit had to be within if they were "filled." Likewise, the subsequent changes which occurred in these former cowards, who had fled when Jesus was tried before Pilate and Herod, came from the internal presence and leadership of the Paraklete. The beginning of change to their onomas, therefore, came only after they were "filled with the Holy Spirit" and indwelt by Him.)

 

Truth is mentioned not less than 90 times in the New Testament, but John uses this term 47 times (or more than half) of all its occurrences in the NT. There’s good reason why John is the dominant writer concerning Truth: he, of all the disciples, had the closest bond of love with Jesus during the 3 ½ years of Jesus’ ministry. Who better, therefore, to describe the attributes and characteristics of the Spirit of Truth.

 

Observe!

 

John 16:7-14: Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: Of sin, because they believe not on me;

 

"Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you."

 

I John 4:1-6: "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.   Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.

 

"Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the Spirit of Truth, and the spirit of error."

 

To these Scriptures we add the following introduction by John of Jesus:

 

John 1:14: And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

 

It is in love – agape love – that Truth, the Spirit of Truth is revealed. Right after John says, “Hereby know we the Spirit of Truth and the spirit of error,” he writes the following:

 

I John 4:7-13: Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.

 

Now, let’s see if we can extract from these Scripture references the character and nature of the Spirit of Truth.

 

1. He shall guide you into all truth. (John 16:13)

 

2. Whatever He hears (from Father), that shall He speak. (John 16:13)

 

3. He will show you things to come [give prophetic revelation]. (John 16:13)

 

4. He glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ [only]. (John 16:14)

 

5. Whatever Jesus says and gives, He [The Spirit of Truth] declares and announces to those who hear and believe. (John 16:14) The Greek word, “anangello” occurs in this verse giving the sense that when we have angelic visitations where truth is revealed, it is the Spirit of Truth which has sent them.

 

6. Jesus goes on to clarify that everything that He has comes from the Father, and that therefore the Spirit of Truth transmits and conveys that to us. (John 16:15)

 

7. The Spirit of Truth is the Comforter – the Paraklete. (John 14:16)

 

8. The Spirit of Truth will not speak to those in the world because they neither see Him, nor know Him, and they will not receive anything He has to say or to give. Neither will He reveal anything of the Father or the Son to anyone who does not love the Lord Jesus Christ. (John 14:15-16)

 

9. For those who walk in love and an intimate relationship with Jesus, the Spirit of Truth will remain with them in perpetuity (Greek: aion: throughout eternity -- more accurately, "the eternities of the eternities"). (John 14:16)

 

10. For those who walk in love – AND in the Spirit – Jesus’ promise is that the Spirit of Truth will dwell IN us. (John 14:17)

 

11. A primary job of the Spirit of Truth is to reprove, confute, convict and admonish the world of, for and because of sin. (John 16:8-11)

 

12. Along with reproving the world of sin, the Spirit of Truth has the responsibility to convince (Greek: elengcho) the world of righteousness (Greek: dikaiosune: justification and innocence through Christ Jesus). (John 16:8-11)

 

13. The third element of the Spirit of Truth’s primary purpose and mission to the world is to demonstrate that the “prince of the world” has been judged by God, convicted, stripped of his authority and sentenced to everlasting hell fire. (John 16:8-11)

 

14. The Spirit of Truth always reveals and shows to those who walk in love the spirit of antichrist, its operation and its presence in the world around us. (I John 4:2-3)

 

15. At the same time The Spirit of Truth always uncovers the spirit of error and makes clear how the spirit of error is rooted in the spirit of antichrist. He accomplishes this with a simple question: will the spirit that is speaking hear the Word of the Lord, or will it rebel against that Word, insisting on having its own way and clinging to its own ideas, thoughts or teachings of man. (I John 4:6)

 

16. When John begins his Gospel, he clearly states that Jesus was full of the Spirit of Grace and the Spirit of Truth – that in Jesus Christ was the Spirit of Grace and the Spirit of Truth manifested in the flesh. (John 1:14)

 

17. The Spirit of Truth only manifests and demonstrates in the presence of agape love. (I John 4:7-13)

 

18. It is the Spirit of Truth that brings to us the confidence and assurance – the “witness of the Spirit” – that we dwell in the Lord Jesus Christ, and that He dwells in us. (I John 4:13)

 

For those who have ears to hear and eyes to see, the Spirit of Truth is the one who reveals the character and nature of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one who convinces us – convicts and reproves in love – of error and misunderstanding.

The Spirit of Truth is our Guide in all spiritual revelation.

 

While the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation (Understanding) brings us revelation and shows us what the Lord is up to, it is the Spirit of Truth who applies that revelation in a practical, workable dimension.

 

We still have one more of the Seven Spirits of God to consider in order to see all of the primary facets or aspects of Jesus' onoma. See you next week!

Blessings on you!