p. 167 | POWER FROM ON HIGH by Elder S. N. Haskell

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jan 16, 1893

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 19, No. 11.

POWER FROM ON HIGH.

By Elder S. N. Haskell

BY ELDER S. N. HASKELL.

THE disciples had been with Christ three and a half years. In him was all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. They had received “power and authority” from him over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sicknesses, and all manner of diseases, and “over all the power of the enemy,” so that nothing could by any means hurt them. They were told to rejoice that their names were written in heaven. More than this, forty days before his ascension he had appeared to them as they sat at meat, and said, “Peace be unto you,” and he had breathed on them, and said, “Receive ye the Holy Ghost.” And even more, he had said to them, “As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.” Even before his crucifixion he had left with them as a legacy his peace and joy, that their joy might be full. But notwithstanding all these experiences that they had had in being associated with Christ and receiving from him special blessings, they were unprepared to take up his work, to go to the ends of the earth with the gospel, until they were endued with power from on high.

They were taught to look forward and expect to receive from heaven a special fitting up before they would be prepared to go forth to the ends of the earth with the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was a blessing that could not be received by the world, neither could they have received it if the Saviour had not left them personally. He said: “Nevertheless I tell you the truth: It is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.” John 16:7. They received it in harmony with the prayer of Christ, because they had accepted him, and had an experimental knowledge of his love. Said the Saviour: “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 cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him; but ye know him, for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.” John 14:16, 17.

This Holy Spirit was to take the place of his personal presence. By it he would come to them. “Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words; and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.” John 14:23. This would reveal to the disciples many things that he could not tell them, because they could not bear them. “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth; for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak; and he will show you things to come.” John 16:12, 13. By revealing

these truths to them, it would glorify Christ, for it would take the things of his and show them unto them. He assured them that “all things that the Father hath are mine; therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall show it unto you.” Verse 15.

Christ offered special prayer for the disciples, because they had known surely that he came out from God, and that God did send him. “I pray for them; I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are mine. And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.” John 17:9, 10. The Spirit, then, was not only to represent Christ to them, but it was to manifest itself in as great power and glory as the personal Christ, and they were to receive as great blessings from its influence as though Christ himself were personally with them. It was better for them to have the Holy Spirit than his personal presence; for his personal presence could be in but one place at a time, but by his Spirit he would be with them individually, wherever they would be, with the same power that he personally possessed.

Oh, what a treasure there was in the promise he made them! No language can overestimate the value of the Spirit of God. The blessings contained in it, and by it, and through it cannot be exaggerated. It cannot be extolled too highly. In Christ was every spiritual blessing. “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” Rom. 8:32.

Thirty-three years God was revealed to man in the flesh, so that it could be said, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life (for the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us).” 1 John 1:1, 2. They had known Christ after the flesh, and henceforth none were to know him any more in that way; but every blessing that was in Jesus Christ, every promise that entered in him, all the power that was invested in him, all the light and glory that he bore to this earth, which is all the light and power and glory of heaven, is represented in the Holy Spirit that he promised should come upon the disciples.

What a promise! Who can measure or comprehend the fullest nature of the words, “Tarry ye in Jerusalem until ye be endued with power from on high.” The whole world, with all its joys and pleasures, sinks into insignificance when compared with the blessings of the Spirit that was promised should fall upon them by tarrying at Jerusalem. No wonder that, under the direct influence of these words, they worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God.

The disciples had taken greater interest in understanding the time that the kingdom would be restored than they had taken in the reception of this promised blessing; so to them the Saviour said: “It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive the power of the Holy Ghost coming upon you [margin]; 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 1:7, 8. How important, then, that they receive this promise! They would be scattered, and go from nation to nation and from kingdom to kingdom to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. They were to go to the most unhealthful climes; they were to visit the most dangerous localities, where poisonous reptiles would be found upon every hand; they were to visit nations of other languages, the impassable barrier that God had erected two thousand years before to divide up nations; but none of these obstacles would stand in the way. The Saviour anticipated all these things; therefore he assured them, “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” He assured them in what manner he could be with them—by his Holy Spirit. They were to go forth in his name and cast out devils; they were to speak with new tongues; if they took up serpents, or if they drank any deadly thing, it would not harm them; they were to lay hands on the sick, and the sick would recover. All these blessings were contained in the Holy Spirit. What a favored class his disciples were! How anxiously they must have waited; how earnestly they must have prayed; how carefully they must have examined their hearts, that they might be in a condition for the reception of this promised treasure!