The Power of God's Spirit
“Not by army, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts.” Zech. 4:6, margin. IT IS by the power of God's Spirit that his work must be done in the earth. But the instrument through which the Spirit of God operates is the word of God, “the sword of the Spirit.” Jesus says, “The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life.” John 6:63. THE COMMISSION of the servant of God is therefore to “preach the word,” to be “instant in season, and out of season,” to “reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine.” 2 Tim. 4:2. And the servant of Christ must do this in view of the fact that there would come times when men would “not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” Verses 3, 4. THIS word which the servant of Christ is enjoined to preach is the Scriptures of truth, and he is enjoined to preach nothing else, for the Scriptures include all things necessary for his work. They are a storehouse of treasures, a magazine of all needful things, an armory in which are all needed weapons and munitions of war, a casket filled with gems and jewels for glory and for beauty, a fountain of life and immortality. Says the apostle: “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God [is God breathed], and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” 2 Tim. 3:16, 17. THIS word of God is “the word of the truth of the gospel” (Col. 1:5), “the mystery of God” and “of Christ” (Col. 2:2 and Eph. 3:4), “the word of his grace” (Acts 20:32), “the gospel” (Mark 16:15), “Jesus Christ, and him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2); and to everyone who receives that word it is the “power of God unto salvation” (Rom. 1:16), Jesus Christ “come in the flesh” (1 John 4:2), “Christ within the hope of glory” (Col. 1:27), a regenerator, a transformer of life and character. The word of God is all of this when preached in the only true way, Christ Jesus. And this includes all the word, historic, prophetic, doctrinal, practical. The simplest truth contained therein, received with all the heart as from God, is sufficient to save a man; and the whole of it is none too much. If we see but the one ray of light and reject it, we are left in darkness; if we refuse to walk in increasing light, the light which we have will become obscured. John 12:35, 36. THIS word of God is the gospel which was preached by the apostles and early Christians. It knew naught of any of the subtle philosophies of the school men, none of the interpretation of creeds, none of the traditions of men, none of the errors of paganism. It presented God's law as the great moral mirror which revealed sin. It pointed to the history of the past as the record, not of human devices and victories, but of God's ruling and overruling providences, despite human plotting and ambition. It predicted by the inspiration of Infinite wisdom in the fall and rise of kingdoms, empires, nations, and the ultimate triumph of Christ over all sin, even as he was the mighty Creator who brought all things into existence. And above all, it presented the love of God to a rebellious world, manifest in the Lord Jesus Christ,—God with us,—who took upon him man's nature, who lived our example, died our sacrifice, and now lives, a pitiful all-sufficient High Priest, a mighty Redeemer, a present Helper, one able to save to the uttermost all who would come to him. This was the gospel preached by the early church. BEFORE that gospel,—the simple facts of the Bible,—set home by the Spirit of Christ, Jewish traditions were swept away like cobwebs, pagan gods crumbled into dust, pagan shrines melted away, and by the love and mercy of God in it pagan hearts were won and transformed from sin to righteousness. The life in that word, the life of God from above, regenerated men. It changed the heart. It found them in sin and sinning; it saved them from sin and sinning. The disobedient to God's law were made obedient; and the law which condemned in every particular became a blessed witness to the perfection of the righteousness placed upon and wrought within the character and life of everyone who accepted by faith Jesus Christ as his Saviour. Rom. 3:21, 22. THIS gospel was not of this world, even as Christ and his servants are not of this world. Christ's kingdom and theirs are therefore not of this world. John 17:14; 18:36. They therefore have no right to use earthly methods or means for its advancement. Matt. 20:25–28. The greatest is the humblest, and the one who will be chief must best serve. The officers in Christ's church are not to be those who had the right either to condemn or discipline those without the church (1 Cor. 5:12, 13), nor to lord it over the faith of those within (2 Cor. 1:24), but to be helpers of their joy. In this they have the example and words of the Master: “And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath One that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.” John 12:47, 48. To his disciples who thought it was their duty to execute the judgment of God upon those who rejected Christ, he said: “Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of Man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them.” Luke 9:56. To-day we have proud and pompous lord bishops, and spiritual lords, but the apostle declares of the ministers of Christ that they were not to be “lords over God's heritage,” “but ensamples to the flock.” 1 Peter 5:3. The weapons of the Christian are not carnal, but nevertheless mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. 2 Cor. 10:4, 5. The outward act of man is to rule by regenerating and ruling the inward thought. The whole panoply of the Christian warrior is wrought in the fire and forge of God. Eph. 6:13–18. Men are not to be compelled or coerced, but besought and persuaded. 2 Cor. 5:11. CARNALITY crept into that early church; the pure gold of the gospel became changed; human plans and schemes were introduced by men who thought themselves wiser than God; the church compromised, and then committed fornication with the world; the commandments of God were thrust aside for the traditions of men; the works of the flesh were substituted for the work of Christ; the carnal weapons were substituted for the spiritual; the creed of a paganized church was substituted for the words of the living God; and the sequel of it all was the darkness, the blasting, the woe, the persecution, of the Dark274Ages, when the pale rider of apocalyptic vision reaped his harvest of death. THE SUN OF THE REFORMATION rose above the cloud of darkness, shone for a little time, and then sank back into the Babylonian fog bank of creed-bound tradition and earthly fornication, out of which came and is coming more and more the miasma of intolerance and persecution. GOD'S call to his servants now is, “Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in My holy mountain; let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand.” From giving glory to men and theories of men, he calls his servants to preach the everlasting gospel, and sound forth the cry: “Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come: and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.” “Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show My people their transgression.” DEAR reader, will you not join us in returning to God and his word with all your heart. “He that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the Lord.” “Every word of God is pure; He is a shield unto them that put their trust in Him.” “For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life.” “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for My sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it.” “Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of Me and of My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him also shall the Son of Man be ashamed, when He cometh in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”