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Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Mar 8, 1910

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 37, No. 10.

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Our Bible Reading

The Outpouring of the Spirit

1. What promise did Jesus make to His disciples before His death? "If ye love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and HE SHALL GIVE YOU ANOTHER COMFORTER, that He [the Father, see verse 23] may abide with you forever." John 14:15, 16.
2. Who is this Comforter that should be given? "Even THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH; whom the world can not receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him." John 14:17.
3. What was necessary that the Spirit might come? "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.
4. What would be the work of the Spirit? "And when He is come, He will REPROVE the world of SIN, and of RIGHTEOUSNESS, and of JUDGMENT: of sin, because they believe not on Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father, and ye see Me no more; of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged." John 16:8-11.
5. What would be the work of the Spirit in the church? "He shall TEACH you ALL THINGS, and bring all things to your REMEMBRANCE, whatsoever I have said unto you." John 14:26.
6. In what will the Spirit be the guide? "When He, the SPIRIT OF TRUTH, is come, He will guide you into all TRUTH." John 16:13.
7. What is the truth into which Christ has promised we shall be guided? "Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy Word is truth." John 17:17.
8. In this guiding, of whom will the Spirit not speak? "He shall NOT speak of HIMSELF." John 16:13.
9. Of whom will the Spirit testify? whose words will the Spirit speak? whom will the Spirit glorify? "The SPIRIT OF TRUTH, which proceedeth from the FATHER, He shall TESTIFY OF ME." John 15:26. "Whatsoever He shall HEAR, that shall HE SPEAK: and He will SHOW YOU THINGS to COME. He shall GLORIFY ME: for He shall receive of Mine, and shall show it unto you." John 16:13, 14.
10. How close will be His relationship to believers? "HE DWELLETH WITH YOU, and shall be IN YOU." John 14:17. "Which is CHRIST IN YOU, the hope of glory." Col. 1:27. "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.
11. What did Jesus impart to His disciples after His resurrection? "He BREATHED on them, and saith unto them, RECEIVE YE THE HOLY GHOST." John 20:22.
12. Had they yet received the Spirit in its fulness? "He charged them NOT to depart from JERUSALEM, but to WAIT for the PROMISE of the FATHER, which, said He, ye have heard from Me: for John indeed baptized with water; but YE shall be BAPTIZED in the HOLY SPIRIT not many days hence." Acts 1:3-5.
13. What would the Spirit give them? "But ye shall receive POWER, when the Holy Spirit is come upon you." Acts 1:8.
14. What would the Spirit enable them to do? "And ye shall be My WITNESSES both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." Acts 1:8.
"Peace be with you." "Receive ye the Holy Spirit."
"Peace be with you." "Receive ye the Holy Spirit."
15. In what condition did the Day of Pentecost find the disciples ten days after His ascension? "When the Day of Pentecost was now come, they were all together [with one accord, A. V.] in one place." Acts 2:1.
16. What remarkable experience and manifestation followed? "And suddenly there came from heaven a SOUND as of the rushing of a mighty wind, and IT filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them tongues parting asunder, like as of fire; and it sat upon each one of them. And they were all FILLED with the HOLY SPIRIT, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." Acts 2:2-4.
17. What did Peter declare this to be? "But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will POUR OUT of MY SPIRIT upon ALL FLESH: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: and on My servants and on My handmaidens I will POUR OUT in those days of MY SPIRIT; and they shall prophesy." Acts 2:16-18.
18. What does Joel call this outpouring of blessings? "Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God: for He hath given you the FORMER RAIN moderately [according to righteousness, margin], and He will cause to come down for you the RAIN, the FORMER RAIN, AND THE LATTER RAIN in the first month [at the first]." Joel 2:23. See also A.R.V.
NOTE.—The "former rain" of Palestine fell upon the dry soil at the close of the year. It softened and prepared it for cultivation, seed-sowing, and the starting of the crops. Following the abundant rains came occasional showers, till just before the harvest, when the latter rains fell to insure abundant crops, and fill out the grain for abundant harvest. So in the Christian dispensation (for Joel is a prophecy of these times, as Peter shows), we have "the early rain" in the apostolic days, and "the latter rain" will fall in the close of the Christian dispensation. As God's people turn to Him and seek His righteousness, He will pour out the latter rain as at the first. In the latter days He will give both the former and the latter rain, with all its blessed fruits foretold in Joel and recorded in part in Acts. Compare Joel 2:28-31 with Acts 2:16-21.
19. How does James predict this outpouring for the last days? "Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the COMING OF THE LORD. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the EARLY AND LATTER RAIN. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the COMING OF THE LORD DRAWETH NIGH." James 5:7, 8.
20. What promise does God give through one of His prophets? "For I will POUR WATER upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will POUR MY SPIRIT upon thy seed, and My blessing upon thine offspring: and they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the watercourses." Isa. 44:3, 4.
21. What will the Spirit do for the penitent child of God? "A NEW HEART also will I give you, and a NEW SPIRIT will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put MY SPIRIT within you, and cause you to walk in MY STATUTES, and ye shall keep My judgments, and do them." Eze. 36:26-28.
22. Into what relationship with God's law will that Spirit bring one? "I will put MY LAWS into their mind, and write them in their HEARTS." Heb. 8:10.
23. What does God enjoin upon us? and how willing is He to give His Spirit? "And I say unto you, ASK, and it shall be GIVEN you; SEEK, and ye shall FIND: KNOCK, and it shall be OPENED unto you. . . . If YE THEN, BEING EVIL, know how to give GOOD GIFTS unto your children: how MUCH MORE shall your HEAVENLY FATHER GIVE THE HOLY SPIRIT to them that ask Him?" Luke 11:9-13.
24. What will the Spirit bring into the heart? "The LOVE OF GOD is shed abroad in our hearts by the HOLY SPIRIT which is given unto us." Rom. 5:5.
25. How will this love be manifested? "This is the LOVE OF GOD, THAT WE KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS: and His commandments are not grievous." 1 John 5:3.
26. How will His Spirit through His Word affect His church? "That He might SANCTIFY AND CLEANSE it with the washing of water by the Word, that He might PRESENT it to HIMSELF A GLORIOUS CHURCH, NOT having SPOT, or WRINKLE, or any such thing; but that it should be HOLY AND WITHOUT BLEMISH." Eph. 5:26, 27.
27. What will then characterize His church? "So that ye COME BEHIND IN NO GIFT; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Cor. 1:7.
28. Will His Spirit-filled children then be affected by worldly environment and influences? "I will be as the dew unto Israel; he shall GROW AS THE LILY, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon. His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive-tree, and his smell as Lebanon. They that dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall REVIVE AS THE CORN, and GROW AS THE VINE: the scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon." Hosea 14:5-7.