MID-WEEK MANNA FROM PASTOR NAT’S DESK:
August 14, 2024
Third Person of the Godhead Series – Part 23
NAMED ‘THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH’ FOR HIS ROLE AND AUTHORITY OF DEFINING AND MAINTAINING THE TRUTH
Jesus 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. . . . Howbeit when He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth.” John 16: 7, 13, KJV.
Now this from the inspired pen (all emphasis and bolding mine):
“The Comforter is called ‘the Spirit of truth. His WORK is to define and maintain the truth. He FIRST dwells [or abides] in the HEART as the Spirit of truth, and thus becomes the Comforter. [Here’s why].
“THERE IS COMFORT AND PEACE IN THE TRUTH, BUT NO REAL PEACE OR COMFORT CAN BE FOUND IN FALSEHOOD. It is through false theories and traditions that Satan gains his power over the MIND. By directing men to FALSE STANDARDS, he misshapes the CHARACTER.
“Through the SCRIPTURES the Holy Spirit SPEAKS to the MIND, and IMPRESSES the truth upon the HEART. Thus he EXPOSES ERROR, and EXPELS IT from the soul [the living person).
“It is by the Spirit of Truth working through the WORD OF GOD [‘the law and testimony,’ Isa. 8:20] that God SUBDUES His chosen people.
“In describing to His disciples the OFFICE WORK of the Holy Spirit, Jesus sought to INSPIRE them with the JOY AND HOPE that inspired HIS OWN HEART. He REJOICED because of the ABUNDANT HELP He had provided for the church [in and through the Holy Spirit].” - E. G. White, Desire of Ages, April 1950, pp. 671-2.Among the other specific functions of the Holy Spirit as Christ’s Successor on earth according to the divine order in the plan of redemption, none can be more important than His appointed role as: THE DEFINER AND MAINTAINER OF THE TRUTH.
God Creator in the flesh, Christ Jesus the Redeemer, is the only “way, the truth, and the life.” Thus, His truth must be the way that Jesus described as “straight and narrow in which few are found therein,” in stark contrast to “the broad and easy way where many are found thereat.”
His way of life-giving truth He opened up with His own life of self-denial and self-sacrifice from humble Bethlehem’s manger to Calvary’s ignominious cross, setting the Example for all mankind to follow “daily.” (Luke 9:23), is the only safe path to walk in this antitypical Wilderness of sin-cursed earth. It is the way of truth that leads our extremely short temporal life of suffering, pain, disappointment, and sorrow to His promised reward to the faithful of that life of everlasting joy, peace, and happiness.
This truth, i. e., “as the truth is in Jesus” (Eph. 4:21), no truth is truth to those who practice it but merely “profess” it for “Christ is not a minister of sin” (Gal. 3:17) while Satan, “the adversary of God and man, the master counterfeiter and deceiver is “the father of lies and murderer from the beginning” (John 8: 44). “No lie (falsehood) of the truth” (1 John 2:21) and “all liars shall die the second death” (Rev. 21: 8, 27).
As Jesus explained of the work of the Holy Spirit in, for, and through His true disciples:
“He will guide you into all truth: FOR HE SHALL NOT SPEAK OF HIMSELF; for whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak. . . . He shall GLORIFY ME for He shall receive of MINE [own glory) and shall SHEW IT [My “way, truth, life” and character-glory] unto you.” John 16: 13, 13.
It is therefore a deception to claim or profess to be led or possessed by the Holy Spirit and speak, teach, and preach falsehoods for they are lies. One can never glorify nor please God while speaking falsehood and lies.
Moreover, when the 120 disciples received the first baptism of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost (former rain) “the multitudes had them speak in their own tongues or native tongues, “the wonderful works of God,” not wild gibberish!
“God is a God of order, not confusion” nor a babel of tongues! It is from another malign spirit, never the Holy Spirit of the Father and the Son!
Remember this: “For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth” (2 Cor. 13: 8) for we all have a day of reckoning with the Spirit of Truth of Christ, the merciful High Priest yet righteous Judge of all the earth!
To be continued next MWM, God willing. Bless all, NMF.