Scripture: "If I go away, the Comforter will come unto you. He shall glorify Me; for He shall take of Mine, and shall declare it unto you."—JOHN xvi. 7, 14.
The crucified Christ was to be glorified on the throne of heaven. And out of that glory He would send down the Holy Spirit into the hearts of His disciples to glorify Him in them. The Spirit of the crucified and glorified Christ would be their life in fellowship with Him, and their power for His service. The Spirit comes to us as the Spirit of the Divine glory; as such we are to welcome Him, and yield ourselves absolutely to His leading.
Yes, the Spirit that searcheth the deep things of God, that dwells in the very roots of the Divine Being, that had been with Christ through all His life, and in His death upon the cross, the Spirit of the Father and the Son was to come and dwell in them, and make them the conscious possessors of the presence of the glorified Christ. It was this blessed Spirit who was to be their power for a life of loving obedience, to be their Teacher and Leader in praying down from heaven the blessing that they needed. And it was in His power that they were to conquer God's enemies and carry the Gospel to the ends of the world.
It is this Spirit of God and of Christ that the Church lacks so sadly; it is this Spirit she grieves so unceasingly. It is owing to this that her work is so often feeble and fruitless. And what can be the reason of this?
The Spirit is God. He claims as God to have possession of our whole being. We have thought too much of Him as our help in the Christian life; we have not known that heart and life are to be entirely and unceasingly under His control; we are to be led by the Spirit every day and every hour. In His power our life is to be a direct and continual abiding in the love and fellowship of Jesus. No wonder that we have not believed in the great promise that, in a love that keeps the commandments, we can always abide in Christ's love. No wonder that we have not the courage to believe that Christ's mighty power will work in us and. through us. No wonder that His Divine prayer-promises are beyond our reach. The Spirit that searcheth the deep things of God claims the very depths of our being, there to reveal Christ as Lord and Ruler.
The promise waits for its fulfilment in our life: "He shall glorify Me; for He shall take of Mine, and shall declare it unto you." Let us this very day yield ourselves to believe the promise at once and with our whole heart. Christ waits to make it true.
