Tongues Of Fire DevotionsSample

A Divine Outpouring

By Andrew Murray  

The work of Christ points to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The preliminary stages were the mystery of the incarnation in Bethlehem, the great redemption accomplished on Calvary, the revelation of Christ as the Son of God by the resurrection, and His entrance into glory in the ascension. Their goal and their crown was the coming down of the Holy Spirit.

The church has hardly acknowledged this and has not seen that the glory of Pentecost is the highest glory of the Father and the Son. That is why the Holy Spirit has not yet been able to reveal and glorify the Son in the church as He would like. Let us see if we can realize what Pentecost means.

God made man in His own image and in His likeness with the distinct purpose that he should become like Himself. Man was to be a temple for God to dwell in. He was to become the home in which God could rest. The close, intimate union with man was what the Holy One longed for and looked forward to.

What was symbolized in the temple in Israel became a divine reality in Jesus of Nazareth. There was a human nature in Jesus, possessed by the divine Spirit. God would have it so with all men who accept Jesus and His Spirit as their life.

Christ’s death was to remove the curse and power of sin and make it possible for man to receive His Spirit. His resurrection was the entrance of a perfected human nature into the life of deity, the divine Spirit-life. At His ascension, He was admitted as man into the very glory of God—the participation by human nature of perfect fellowship with God in glory in the unity of the Spirit.

And yet, with all this, the work was not yet complete. God’s main purpose was still not fulfilled. How could the Father dwell in men even as He had dwelt in Christ? This was the great question to which Pentecost gives the answer.

The Holy Spirit is now sent forth in a new character and a new power, such as He never had come before. In creation and nature, He came forth from God as the Spirit of life. In the creation of man, He especially acted as the power in which man’s Godlikeness was based. After man’s fall, the Spirit still testified for God. In Israel, He appeared as the Spirit of the theocracy, distinctly inspiring and equipping certain men for their work. In Jesus Christ, He came as the Spirit of the Father given to Jesus without measure. All these are manifestations in different degrees of one and the same Spirit.

But now comes the long-promised and entirely new manifestation of the divine Spirit. The Spirit that has dwelt in the obedient life of Jesus Christ has taken up His human spirit into perfect fellowship and unity with Himself. He is now the Spirit of the exalted God-man. The man Christ Jesus enters the glory of God and the full fellowship of that Spirit-life in which God dwells. He receives from the Father the right to send forth His Spirit into His disciples—to Himself descend in the Spirit and dwell in them.

The Spirit comes in a new power that had not been possible before because Jesus had not been crucified or glorified. This new power is the very Spirit of the glorified Jesus. The work of the Son and the longing of the Father received its fulfillment. Man’s heart has become the home of his God.

The mystery of the incarnation at Bethlehem is indeed glorious. A pure, holy body was formed for the Son of God. In that body, the Holy Spirit dwelt. This is indeed a miracle of divine power. This is a mystery of grace that passes all understanding. This is the blessing Pentecost brings and receives.