It is important to see that the coming of the Lord Jesus into this world introduced an entirely new era in the ways of God with men, and that this new era is marked by the presence of the Holy Spirit in a way that was never known before. In Old Testament days, the Spirit of God visited the earth and energized men for certain great exploits or moved them to write the Holy Scriptures, but He never dwelt here as He does now. John 7:39 will be sufficient to prove this: “But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive: for the Holy Spirit was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.”
Mark what is here stated. Believers on Jesus were to receive the Spirit; but for this they had to wait until Jesus was glorified, and He could not be glorified until His death and resurrection were accomplished. The two great facts of this present period are that the Man Christ Jesus sits on the throne of God in heaven, and that God the Holy Ghost dwells in men on the earth.
The Lord Jesus often talked with His disciples about His death and resurrection, but they always failed to understand Him; they expected to see Him sit upon the throne of David and make Israel glorious in the earth. So that when He allowed men to put Him upon the cross, and died without resisting their violence, these poor disciples were dismayed and heartbroken. They thought that the Lord had been utterly defeated, and that His mission was a complete failure and that all their hopes were forever blasted. But just as the rising of the sun at morn flings back the gloom of night, so the resurrection dispelled the darkness into which the death of Jesus had plunged them. Their doubts and misgivings vanished when they saw the Lord and they knew that what they had thought was defeat was glorious victory.
As He instructed them in things concerning Himself from the Old Testament writings (Luke 24) they must have realized the blessed fact that He had gained more glory upon the cross than He could have done had He taken the throne, and that only by that death of suffering and shame could God’s intentions be brought about in the midst of the children of men.
It is scarcely needful to cite evidence as to the Lord’s resurrection, but the coming of the Holy Ghost was entirely dependent upon it. If Christ is not raised, it is proved that He was unequal to the task which He undertook, that our sins were too many, and death too strong for Him, that God Himself has been defeated and that the devil has gained a supreme and final victory. If Christ is not raised, the work of redemption is not accomplished, and consequently the presence of the Holy Ghost in men is an absolute impossibility, for He can only dwell in those who are redeemed.
But now is Christ risen from the dead, and in that resurrection we see the mighty triumph of God, and the irrefutable pledge of blessing for men.
In Luke 24:49, it is recorded that the Lord said, “And, behold, I send the promise of My Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until ye be endued with power from on high.”
And Luke tells us (Acts 1:8-9), that He also said, “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”
Now these disciples, believing the word of the Lord implicitly, abode in Jerusalem, and continued in one accord in prayer and supplication, awaiting the fulfillment of the Lord’s promise.
They had grasped the fact that they were to represent the Lord during His absence, and to spread the fame of His mighty victory. They were evidently also conscious of their own inability for this great work, and so they waited in earnest supplication upon the Lord for the coming of Him by whom they were to receive power, that in His strength they might go forth and bring men as captives to the feet of Jesus.
Acts 2 gives the account of the actual coming of the Holy Ghost to take up His dwelling place upon earth, and He remains with us today.
In John 3, “Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”
Two things stand out clearly in this story: 1) the badness of men by nature; and 2) the goodness of God in undertaking to make a new start in them for their blessing. “Ye must be born again.” This is an absolute necessity, and this statement gives the lie to the boast that good dwells in every man and merely requires development.
Note that these words were not spoken to an outwardly gross and vicious man. Nicodemus was a model for his fellows, upright and correct in his conduct; but with startling clearness the truth is set before even him–flesh is flesh. There must be a new start: “Ye must be born again.”
We are told that what humanity needs is to be cultured, educated, religionized; that men ought to be placed in better environment, their standard of life raised. It is argued that a change from the slums to garden cities, that suitable recreations and the like will make them satisfactory to themselves and their fellows, and pleasing to God. Well, I for one would like to see all slums disappear, and the lot of man made easier. The miseries and hardships of multitudes can give no pleasure to the Christian. But these things are the foul brood that sin has begotten in the world. Man has a fallen sinful nature and no change of environment can change that. Do not lose sight of the fact that the fall took place amid the most beautiful surroundings that human eyes have seen on earth, and that the foulest crime that ever stained the sad annals of humanity was perpetrated in a garden. It was in a garden that the traitor kiss was put upon the cheek of Jesus, and the man who did that dastardly deed had been in company with Him for three years. He had been taught, and fed, and protected by Him, but in spite of these circumstances and conditions–the best that men could have–his heart remained unchanged. And the truth must be told, though it may hurt us to hear it, the heart of Judas was but a sample of yours and mine.
If you demand my authority for such an assertion, I will turn you back to Jeremiah 17:9. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”
Or further back still, to Genesis 6: “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”
It is useless to plead that great progress has been made since those days, for “That which is born of flesh is flesh.” “Ye must be born again.”
All are corrupt alike by nature, from the highest grade of society to its lowest dregs; flesh is flesh, and nothing but this absolutely new start which God’s Spirit alone can produce, can make men acceptable to God.
The truth as to the fall and the utter badness of the heart is not pleasant to the unregenerate man; it suits the pride of his heart better to believe that he has descended from the ape, and that the ape arrived through various stages of evolution from the lowliest form of life, for then he can reason that if he has made such wonderful progress in the past, the future is big with possibilities. But, alas! it is the Edenic lie, “Ye shall be as gods,” which he has believed. This is the will-o’-the-wisp that is leading him through the night of his ignorance, to the black doom of eternal despair. Happy is the man who accepts God’s truth as to himself and acknowledges that he is a fallen sinner, for then he is ready for the unfolding of God’s great plan for his blessing.
The truth of God is applied in convicting power by the Spirit of Gcd, for just as He brooded over the face of the waters in the days of creation, so He moves now upon the souls of men to bring form out of chaos, to make the light shine where the darkness has reigned, and to bring life out of death. He is the untiring Servant of God in this gracious work, and rich indeed are the blessings that come to the man who yields to His influence and power.