The Head of Every Man by Arthur G. Daniells

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Mar 17, 1903

The Head of Every Man

By Arthur G. Daniells

There is much to be gained in Christian experience by an intelligent recognition of the sovereign position which the Holy Spirit is to occupy in the heart of every believer, and thus in the church of Christ on earth. Let us note the following inspired statements:—

“Ye are not your own.” 1 Cor. 6: 19.

“I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ.” 1 Cor. 11: 3.

“Christ is the head of the church.” Eph. 5: 23.

“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.” “I will not leave you comfortless.” “I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever; even the Spirit of truth; whom the world can not receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.” John 14: 1, 2, 18, 16, 17.

“I will not contend forever, neither will I be always wroth; for the Spirit who is my presence would be grieved for the souls which I have made.” Isa. 57: 16, Spurrell's translation.

“Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.” Zech. 4: 6.

“Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.” Rom. 6: 13.

This is the teaching of God's Word regarding the headship of Christ. This teaching reveals the way of personal experience and the power of the church.

We are not our own. The head of every man is Christ, and Christ has sent the Holy Spirit into this world to represent him during his ministry in the sanctuary of God in heaven. Thus the Holy Spirit is his presence, and has become the head, as Christ's representative, of every man, and of the church. His Spirit is working in the world for the accomplishment of his mighty purpose. He is working upon all flesh. He is holding in check the powers of evil that would

hinder the work of God. He is directing men's minds, as far as God sees fit, that they may be used of God for the final accomplishment of his work in the earth.

He is in the great councils of States and of nations, to control the minds of men in their decisions, and to prevent them from enacting laws that would hinder the people of God from carrying on his work. He is also in the halls of science, the workrooms of inventors, and the offices of financiers. He is in all these places, guiding, so far as God sees best, the minds of those men, so that their talents, their energies, their powers, and their wealth shall be used by the Lord in the accomplishment of his glorious purpose. The world is not having its own way altogether. There is a great deal of sin, a great deal of evil, a great deal that is against God; but the Holy Spirit is working upon all flesh, to shape affairs so that God shall be glorified at last.

That is the way we must view the work of inventors, explorers, discoverers, translators, and missionaries of all denominations. It is the way we must view the mighty projects of financiers, and even of great trusts and combinations. While God is not in all their thoughts, yet he lays his hand upon them, and uses them, and directs their minds, for the accomplishment of his work. It has been a power mightier than any of earth that has pressed men on in their great projects which they have pursued so perseveringly.

That great government of Russia, which has in some ways stood against our work, has been carrying out certain projects that God will yet use as mighty facilities in his work. It has, at immense cost, and immense loss apparently, projected a railway from St. Petersburg to the Pacific Ocean. This has brought China and all the Oriental nations many days nearer to America than they ever could have been by steamship lines.

Why could Mr. Cecil Rhodes never rest day nor night until he had, even in the palaces of kings, obtained concessions to permit a railway line to be built from Cairo to Cape Town? Why was he willing to devote his enormous wealth to that project?—It was that a great highway might be established through the heart of the Dark Continent. God wanted this highway that his people might, by that means, quickly reach the enormous populations of that country, and give them this message.

Thus the Spirit of God is in the world to-day as the head, the representative of Christ; and men who do not recognize God are being in a measure controlled by that Spirit, to devote their talents, their energies, their powers, to the end that the gospel shall be finished in this generation.

It is easy enough for us to see this; but we must go further, we must bow down at the feet of Christ, and proclaim him head,—enthrone him Lord of all; and then definitely recognize the Holy Spirit as his immediate presence in the church, and the leader of every Christian.

What a blessed thought it is that a man may from day to day be conscious of the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, the head of the church; that he may talk with him, receive from him enlightenment, and the quickening of his mighty power. All the wisdom, all the grace, all the creative power, and so all the healing power of Jesus center in his representative, the Holy Spirit. And he is the head of every man.

It is time for us more definitely, specifically, and knowingly to make this recognition of the Holy Spirit's headship in the church, and of every man. How are we to make this recognition, and how are we to come into this personal association with the Holy Spirit, the head of the church?—By unqualified surrender to his leadership. That is the way. Yield not your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin. Satan is working in the world to thwart the purpose of God, to misrepresent him, and to dethrone him at last. Man is not to yield his powers, his mental faculties,—his eyes, his ears, his power of speech,—as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin.

Yield your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. That is the way our faculties are to be yielded, instruments of righteousness unto God. But these faculties are to be made righteous, else they can not be instruments of righteousness. These lips, this tongue, endowed with the precious gift of speech, are not to be used to bruise, to injure, and to forward the work of Satan; they are to be used as instruments under the control of the Holy Spirit.

It is the absolute and unqualified surrender of these powers to God that constitutes a true recognition of the headship of the Holy Spirit, who is Christ's presence. This is the true recognition, and there is no other. We can not by mere profession of faith, by subscribing our names to articles, by lip service alone, make that recognition. But by the surrender of the will, by the surrender of the body, with all its faculties, we can recognize and proclaim the Holy Spirit as our head.

When that recognition is made, a union is formed between the human and the divine. A fellowship is established between man and the mightiest power of earth, the Holy Spirit. And when that fellowship is established, there is Christian experience, there is divine headship to the man. And when every member of the church makes that surrender, and experiences that union, then there is divine headship to the church. Then the church will have put on its strength and its beautiful garments; then it will have broken the bands that are about its neck, and have shaken itself from the dust; then it will have arisen, and have sat down with Jesus Christ at the right hand of God.

It is this experience that both the church and the world need to-day. It is this experience that the third angel's message has come to give.

A. G. DANIELLS.