CHAPTER TWO - THE SPIRIT GLORIFIES THE SON

[BaptistBibleBeliever]

THE HOLY SPIRIT AT WORK

BY

S. Franklin Logsdon

"It is expedient for you that I go away . . . I will send him unto you"

Copyright @ 1960

CHAPTER TWO

THE SPIRIT GLORIFIES THE SON

"He shall glorify me . . ."

THE SON OF GOD and the Spirit of God were not strangers one to the other. They always were, are and ever shall be one with each other in the Godhead. Their distinct manifestations and differing ministrations must not confuse this fact in our thinking.

- The Son knew the Spirit would come.
- The Spirit knew the Son had come.

Each knew well why the other was so manifested. Jesus knew what the Spirit would do when He came, and the Spirit knew what Jesus had done when He was here. While the Spirit came to apply the provisions of Christ, He came equally to exalt the Person of Christ. "He shall glorify me," the Saviour assured.

The Spirit's attention to the Lord Jesus Christ enjoys an impressive emphasis in the Scriptures. This allures our thoughts into realms of the most fascinating discovery. "I lay down my life" (John 10:17), Jesus explained. This was expressly the reason for His coming to earth. And what a significant thing it was! But in almost every other instance in the earthly movements of the Son of God, the Holy Spirit is accredited with the promoting energy.

We will observe some of the prominent instances of this fact.

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JESUS BEGOTTEN OF THE SPIRIT

"Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost" (Matthew 1:18).

How an ocean of deity could flow into a little eddy of humanity and still be God, is, according to Paul, "without controversy, great is the mystery" (I Timothy 3:16). The birth of Christ was not only a miracle of which God was the Creator, but a miracle of which He was the center.

It involved:

- The plan of the Godhead,
- The anticipation of the prophets,
- The annunciation of the messengers,
- The expectation of Mary,
- The incarnation of Christ,
- The jubilation of the angels,
- The adoration of the Magi,
- The vituperation of Herod,
- The salvation of men.

It put:

- A Branch in a manger (Isaiah 11:1),
- The living Word on a dead tree (John 1:1),
- A Man in the glory (I Timothy 2:5),
- A Lamb on the throne (Revelation 7:17).

It also put wounds in the King Eternal (Zechariah 13:6).

The introduction of Christ to earth in human form was without precedent or possible repetition. Heaven had acted. Its uniqueness may be partially comprehended when we observe that Heaven's only Lord, creation's only Originator, and earth's only Saviour has now been revealed in human form. This amazing matter is attributed to the work of the Holy Spirit.

[BaptistBibleBeliever]

JESUS DIRECTED OF THE SPIRIT

"Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil" (Matthew 4:1).

The apparent subserviency of the Lord Jesus Christ to both the Father and the Spirit is but a further proof of His voluntary condescension—the limitations of a self-imposed humbling (Philippians 2:8). And in this self-emptied state (the Kenosis), as decreed by the counsels of the Almighty in the unknowable past, direction for all the moves of the Lord Jesus Christ was to come from the blessed Holy Spirit.

When the Spirit led the Saviour into the wilderness, it was not for the purpose of ascertaining whether or not He could stand the test, but rather to prove that He could not fail the test. As the first Adam was tested in a garden for obedience, the last Adam was tested in the wilderness for righteousness. It is ever unrighteous to yield to Satan. Jesus did not yield.

Being led is something of a surrender of one's will. This was true of the Lord Jesus in His submission as it is true of the Christian in his dedication. "I came down from heaven," Jesus explained, "not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me" (John 6:38). In surrendering His will, the Holy Spirit led.

The text tells us that Jesus was "led up of the Spirit into the wilderness."

- The Spirit led Him in the forty days and forty nights of fasting.
- The Spirit led Him through the whole gamut of testing.
- The victory was decisive.

"Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him" (Matthew 4:11).

When the Spirit leads, Satan must leave; and how wonderful to have the "ministering spirits" instead of the "messengers of Satan"!

The strategy of Satan in the wilderness temptation of our Lord epitomizes the conflict which the Christian has in his wilderness journey—"the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life" (I John 2:16).

What people will do for appetite, appearance and applause is a drama of universal proportions filled with vanity, eternal loss and endless remorse. Only those who are led by the Spirit can join gratefully with the apostle in exulting: "Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ" (II Corinthians 2:14).

[BaptistBibleBeliever]

JESUS IDENTIFIED BY THE SPIRIT

"He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him" (Matthew 3:16). The word, "lighting," means to come, to appear, to come from another place, to publicly appear, to be manifested in approval.

Here on the banks of the historic Jordan, the Saviour assured: "It becometh us [Father, Son and Holy Spirit] to fulfill all righteousness" (Matthew 3:15).

The pictorial suggestion is overwhelming.

- The baptism symbolized the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
- The descending dove prefigured the advent of the Comforter,
- The voice from Heaven bespoke the approval of the Father.

John the Baptist had said: "Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). Now the Father Himself says: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Matthew 3:17).

JESUS ANOINTED OF THE SPIRIT

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me" (Luke 4:18), Jesus explained as He began His public ministry.

As Jesus stood to read the sixty-first chapter of Isaiah, we cannot but believe He emphasized the personal pronouns. "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me . . . he hath anointed me . . . he hath sent me"

He was concerned about the poor, the broken-hearted, the captives, the blind, the bruised.

- He was the wealth of Heaven to the poor,
- He was the comfort of Heaven to the brokenhearted,
- He was the power of Heaven to the captives,
- He was the light of glory to the blind,
- He was the balm of Gilead to the bruised.

He is still all this and more.

- To make people rich, He became poor;
- To bring comfort to the broken-hearted, He suffered;
- To deliver the captives, He was led captive;
- To produce light for the blind, He was enshrouded with darkness;
- To heal the bruised, He was wounded and afflicted.

Jesus was anointed of the Spirit to "preach the acceptable year of the Lord" (Luke 4:19). The word "acceptable" (dektos) means the approved or propitious time. How appropriate was this statement at the beginning of our Lord's earthly ministry! The apostle Paul employed the same word with a prefix for emphasis: "Now is the accepted time," he pleaded; "behold, now is the day of salvation" (II Corinthians 6:2). There is no time more propitious than now.

When we remember that Jesus spake as never man spake, that His words were quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, we can well understand why "the eyes of all . . . were fastened on him" (Luke 4:20). Jesus was anointed of the Holy Spirit.

[BaptistBibleBeliever]

JESUS WAS EMPOWERED OF THE SPIRIT

"And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit unto Galilee" (Luke 4:14).

Here is a glimpse of His return from the wilderness temptation. What was true of Jesus in this instance, may it be the triumphant experience of the Christian! To encounter the foe under the leadership of the Spirit guarantees a victorious return in the power of the same conquering One.

It is a rather forbidding venture to attempt an analysis of the extent to which Jesus surrendered His power while in the body of humiliation. Apart from His work on the cross, it is not evident that Jesus operated apart from the Spirit's power. His many miraculous ministrations were, as we noted-earlier, in the anointing of the Spirit. However, when the work on the cross had been fully accomplished, Jesus once again exercised His ever appropriate omnipotence as the eternal Logos without whom "was not anything made that was made" (John 1:3). Jesus said, following His resurrection, "All power in heaven and earth is given unto me."

JESUS IS GLORIFIED BY THE SPIRIT

When Jesus was comforting His sorrowful disciples by announcing that another Comforter would come, even the Holy Spirit, He said, "He shall glorify me" (John 16:14). There was a specific way in which the Holy Spirit was to glorify the Lord Jesus, and indeed has. "He shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you," Jesus explained.

This "showing" is twofold in character:

(1) in the inspired Page,
(2) in His manifested power.

The Bible lives because it presents the Living One.

The word portraits of Him are glimpses of grandeur which exhilarate our spirits and challenge our hearts.

- They open the eyes of our understanding.
- They leave us with no excuse for our fearful failures in life.
- They allure our vision to heavenly heights
- They introduce us to the rapturous joy of being in the center of God's will.

All through the inspired Record, the Holy Spirit reveals and glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ in His anointed ministry:

- Unlocking the ears of the deaf;
- Unloosing the tongues of the mute;
- Healing the troubled breasts;
- Blessing the living;
- Raising the dead,
- Dispelling the demons;
- Transforming men.

How desperately we need to have demonstrated the presence of the Lord in our midst!

- We speak about the power of God, but remain impotent.
- We speak about His supernaturalness, but operate in the unprofitableness of the flesh.
- We speak about the outpouring of His Spirit, but find ourselves in the midst of a dreadful spiritual dearth.

Oh, for a manifestation of His power!

~ end of chapter 2 ~

CHAPTER 01. THE SPIRIT CAME TO MEN"

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