The Power of the Spirit by George B. Thompson

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jan 30, 1913

The Power of the Spirit

By George B. Thompson

The Holy Spirit—No. 3

The Power of the Spirit

G. B. THOMPSON

“And 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.” Acts 1:8.

“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.” Luke 24:49.

These words are a part of the last instruction of our Saviour just before he ascended to the throne of his Father, and the other “Comforter” came and took his seat in the church.

The disciples had been with Jesus during his ministry. They had listened to his instruction in the temple, as they walked by the way, on the shores of Galilee, and in the upper room. They had seen his wonderful power manifested in healing the sick, cleansing the lepers, and even raising the dead. They saw him after his resurrection, and heard him speak of the things that pertain to the kingdom of God. They finally saw him ascend from Olivet to the place of glory and power at the right hand of God. They talked with the angels concerning his return, and “returned to Jerusalem with great joy: and were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God.” Yet all this did not constitute power. It did not qualify them to carry the gospel to the world; but they were bidden, “Tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.” Luke 24:49.

The disciples were to carry the gospel to the world. They were to meet persecution, imprisonment, and death. The Saviour knew that it was impossible for them to accomplish the work before them without this heavenly enduement. On the day of Pentecost the promise was fulfilled, and having received the promised unction, they went forth with power to make known the gospel. They were imprisoned, whipped, stoned, and slain. Their followers were fed to the wild beasts, and the sand of the arena was soaked with their blood; but the word of God triumphed. Old Rome, with her pagan idols and abominations, has passed away. The dynasty of the Cæsars has sunk into oblivion. Her oracles are dumb. Her temples have been destroyed, and her laws abolished; but the gospel, through the power of the Spirit, has gone to the ends of the earth, and the Word has been printed in all languages and scattered to the utmost extremity of the habitable globe.

The word power, as found in the English version of the Scriptures, is represented in the Greek Testament by several distinct words. One is kratos, which signifies strength, or the manifestation of physical force. It is from this word that such words as autocrat, plutocrat, and aristocrat are derived.

Another is exousia, which indicates authority exercised or conferred by a ruler; as, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.” Matt. 28:18. “To them gave he power to become the sons of God.” John 1:12.

But spiritual, or evangelical, power is designated by the word dunamis, as in Luke 24:49. The apostles employ this word to express the spiritual power of the ministry, “And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.” 1 Cor. 2:4. “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.” 1 Cor. 1:18. It is this word dunamis from which dynamite, dynamos, dynamics, dynasty, etc., are derived.

“If we endeavor to analyze the elements of this power in itself, I think we shall fail. It is spiritual and invisible. All we can do is to trace the circumstances under which this power is given, and the results which flow from it. Indeed, power is in its nature indescribable. It is known simply by its results. Gravitation, that greatest of all material powers, ceaselessly active, everywhere potent, is wholly beyond our research, or even our conception. Where are those cords, stronger than steel, which bind the planets to their centers? Where are those unseen ties that, like a universal network, envelop every atom in the air, and make it fall to the earth, and not merely to the earth, but in a direct line toward the center of the earth, though it be thousands of miles away and can never be reached? It seems an emblem of God, filling all space, operating through all matter. If the dream of astronomers be true, that not only secondaries surround their planets, and planets their suns, but that suns revolve around the center of immense systems, and all these centers through the immensity of space move round one great center, who can ever conceive the magnitude of a force that can thus operate through infinite space with precisely the same law of attraction for vast worlds and for infinitesimal atoms? It is a force never seen, and yet it operates alike in the sunshine and in the dark. It is never heard, and yet it sends its myriads of worlds singing and shining on their way. He who made that power by the word of his Spirit gives that Spirit to work in us and through us.”

“Nor is it the only exhibition of power. Consider the chemical affinity that draws together the acids and the alkalis. With what constant and unseen power does it operate! Think of that magnetic power which makes the steel filings, though in a mass of dust and rubbish and clippings of tin and brass, leave them all and fly up and kiss the magnet. It touches that pivoted needle, and lives and treasure are secure upon the stormy ocean in the darkest night by its unerring guidance. The winds blow ever so fiercely, the cold comes ever so freezingly, the waves roll ever so furiously, and the vessel pitches and sinks as if it would be submerged; and yet that strange influence, unseen, unheeded, unfelt even by the most sensitive nerves, holds the needle in its place. Who can tell what is power? We see it in its effects, we measure it in its results.”

“So with spiritual power. We can not tell ‘whence it cometh, and whither it goeth;’ but it breathes upon the human spirit: the stormy passions subside; falsehood, fraud, lust, and avarice disappear; and truth, purity, meekness, and love reign supreme in the soul. It is a transmutation beyond what the philosopher sought in the fabled stone whose

touch would transmute into gold. It is a new creation from the breath of him who created all worlds and breathed into all spirits. Spiritual power is not beauty of presence nor dignity of form. It is not learning, nor rhetoric, nor logic, nor oratory; but it can use these for its one great end. It can burn and shine in the highest periods of the most eloquent speaker, and it can thrill in the accents of the unlettered man. It can invest the words that drop from the mother’s lips, and it can wing the lispings of the little child. It can use all there is of a human being, and of his acquirements, for the glory of God and for the advancement of his church.”

“This spiritual force, in its highest human manifestation, is ministerial power. It employs and utilizes all other forms as its agents. It uses the power of thought, which is immense in its character,—the thoughts not only of good men, but of angels and of God,—thoughts which were from eternity, and thoughts which shall triumph when earth’s history shall have closed. It uses the power of language in all its multifarious forms. Its tongue of fire is to preach among all nations, and to carry to every heart, through its own peculiar idiomatic expressions, the knowledge of the power and love of God.”—Lectures on Preaching, pages 202-204.

The foregoing is in harmony with the following most encouraging extract from the spirit of prophecy:—

“All who consecrate soul, body, and spirit to God will be constantly receiving a new endowment of physical and mental power. The inexhaustible supplies of heaven are at their command. Christ gives them the breath of his own Spirit, the life of his own life. The Holy Spirit puts forth its highest energies to work in heart and mind. The grace of God enlarges and multiplies their faculties, and every perfection of the divine nature comes to their assistance in the work of saving souls. Through cooperation with Christ they are complete in him, and in their human weakness they are enabled to do the deeds of Omnipotence.”—Desire of Ages, page 827.

As we ponder the wonderful promises of the Word to give power to the faint, and might to those who are without strength, there springs up in the heart an unquenchable desire to see this power manifested among the remnant of Israel as in apostolic days. We are not zealous as to the form in which the Spirit’s presence shall be manifested. God has infinite ways to manifest himself. The mode of that manifestation doubtless will change, as the times and needs change. But the Spirit is to abide with the church till the end of time, and we can but believe that when this other Advocate, this divine representation of the throne on which sits the eternal God and his Son Jesus Christ, has his way in the church and in the hearts of all the believers, there will be unmistakable signs and outward signals of his presence among us.

It is not a question of believing that there is a Holy Spirit. He has his place in the fundamentals of our faith. But the question is, What place has he in the life? The eloquent words of Bishop Simpson quoted above, stir the heart. We believe that God did inspire prophets in ages past; but these are dead and gone. “God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.” The God who through the Spirit inspired and strengthened his servants in the past is no less willing to give unto every believer now the fulness of his Spirit for service.