LIVING WATERS
For the proclamation of the Gospel and the edification of the Body of Christ
The Holy Spirit and the Heavenly Vision
The danger of neglecting the work of the Holy Spirit.
Rubén Chacón
Reading: Ephesians 1:3-14.
I would like, by way of introduction, to ask this question: to whom does the heavenly vision belong? Who is the author of it? I'm not asking 'who is it about', but 'who is it from', in whose heart did it begin?
We have to say that the heavenly vision is not firstly the vision of a man, even if these men are apostles like Peter, Paul or John; it is first and foremost God's vision. And by this I want to stress that it is not only the vision of the Lord Jesus Christ, but, first and preeminently, the heavenly vision is God the Father's vision. It is about his Son, but the vision, firstly and preeminently, is God our Father's vision, the heavenly Father.
Moreover, the heavenly vision is not just the vision of the Father and of the Son, but it is also the vision of God the Holy Spirit.
The Father is the origin of everything
In these twelve verses of Ephesians, there is a beautiful description of the heavenly vision. When Paul begins to describe it, in verse 3, he begins by saying: "Blessed be the God and Father of our the Lord Jesus Christ ...". He starts by blessing God the Father.
Now, whenever we take this Scripture, we do it to emphasize that the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is in the center of this heavenly vision. But the vision does not begin with the Son; the vision is born in the heart of the Father. And that's why Paul begins by saying: "Blessed be the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ".
So, this morning, we say not only: glory to Christ! We also say: glory to the Father! Because although Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is the center, the essence of this heavenly vision; although it is true that by Jesus Christ all things have their being, including us; nevertheless all things come from the Father, all the things have their beginning in God the Father of our the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let's read here in Ephesians and try to see why Paul begins with this exaltation of the Father. In verse 3 it says: "...who blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places...". Who blessed us? The Father! That's why God the Father is blessed, because the Father blessed us with every spiritual blessing.
In verse 4 it says: "...just as he chose us". Who chose us? The Father! The first blessing is this: the Father chose us, the Father chose us "...before the foundation of the world". If you are not sure about what I am saying, compare it with 1st Peter 1:2. Peter, greeting the brothers, says to them: "...according to the foreknowledge of God the Father". And look at how here the three are beautifully mentioned here: "...in sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ".
Verse 5: "...in love, having predestined us". Who predestined us? The Father! Not only did he choose us before the foundation of the world, but he also predestined us "unto adoption as sons… according to the good pleasure of his will".
Verse 6: "...to the praise of the glory of his grace...". To the praise of the glory of whom? The Father! Verse 8: "...(grace) which he made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence". Who made that grace abound toward us? The Father, again! Verse 9: "...making known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he purposed in him". Who made the mystery of his will known? It was the Father!
Now we better understand why Paul starts by saying: "Blessed be the God and Father". Therefore, when we speak about the heavenly vision, we have to understand that this vision, in its conception, in its development and in its execution, has an order. Not only does an order exist between Christ and the church - the church is not first, he, Christ, is first - but within the Godhead himself, there is also an order; the heavenly vision follows an order. And this order is: first the Father; then, the Son, and then the Holy Spirit.
The place of the Son in God's will
Now, let's concentrate again on the same paragraph that we have read, and let's enter into what we usually pay attention to, and that is the place that the Son occupies in this heavenly vision. This beautiful expression appears, that we know so well: "in Christ".
The expression: in Christ, or in the Lord, or in him, appears 160 times in Paul's writings. It is a very prominent expression which is in his language, in his prayers and in his teaching. In Christ, what a beautiful expression. And here in Ephesians it appears 36 times. And in these twelve verses from 3 to 14, it appears 9 times, almost once every verse, thereby showing the place that the Son occupies in this heavenly vision.
Let's look at this passage again. Verse 3. We already said the Father was the one who "blessed us with every blessing in the heavenly places" but notice where it is: "... in Christ!" The Father is the giver of all blessing; but this blessing is not outside or apart from Christ, is given to us in Christ Jesus.
Verse 4: The Father chose us. Where did he choose us? "... in him". That is the place of the Son; "he chose us in him before the foundation of the world". Verse 5: The Father predestined us "unto adoption as sons through Jesus Christ". Verse 6: To the praise of the glory of the grace of the Father, grace with which the Father "made us accepted in the beloved". Verse 7: In the beloved we have "redemption by his blood, the forgiveness of sins".
Verse 9: When he says that the Father has made known the mystery of his will to us: what is this mystery? "... to sum up all things in Christ ". Verse 11: It is in Christ, it is "in whom also we were made a heritage". Verse 13: "In whom we also", in Christ, "having heard the word of the truth, the gospel of your salvation,-- in whom, having also believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise". Blessed is the Lord! That is the place of the Son.
In this description of the heavenly vision, while the Son is mentioned, the Father is in the background. The Father is the author; but the Son is the expression, He is the projection of the Father. The Son is the One in whom all the Father's good pleasure is carried out, in such a way that we cannot find the Father if it is not in the Son, we cannot come to the will of the Father, or reach his will if it is not in Christ Jesus
The place of the Holy Spirit in the experience of the vision
And what about the Holy Spirit? He is mentioned in the last two verses, 13 and 14, and I say: hallelujah because of this! If the Holy Spirit had not appeared here, something would have gone wrong. He is mentioned in third place, and so it should be: first the Son was sent; then the Holy Spirit. Let's read the last two verses of this paragraph.
It says in verse 13: "In him - in Christ - ye also, having heard the word of the truth, the gospel of your salvation,-- in whom, having also believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise...". Why is the Holy Spirit not mentioned earlier? In what moment of God's plan, in what part of the development of the heavenly vision does the Holy Spirit receive primary importance? From the moment when we begin to take part in this heavenly vision.
The first ten verses are the description of the desire and the will of the Father, and of how these have been carried out in the Son. But verses 13 and 14 describe the moment in which you and I now join in, in which we are identified in a personal way, when we were reached by this word, and this word awoke the faith within us to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the center of the heavenly vision. And it is in this moment, then, that the Holy Spirit plays the fundamental role.
Without God's Holy Spirit, there is no experience of the heavenly vision, there is no revelation of it. The heavenly vision, without the Holy Spirit, will continue to be a glorious, eternal, perfect thing, the maximum truth of the whole universe; but it will remain outside our hearts.
The day that you heard the word of your salvation, the day that you believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, you were sealed by the Holy Spirit. All the commentators say that with this figure of the seal, it is indicating a mark upon us. And the mark is the Holy Spirit Himself.
It is the Holy Spirit Himself in you, the seal that indicates that we are property of God. Paul confirms this when he writes to the Romans, and says to them in chapter 8: "if any man hath not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his". That is to say, the seal is the Holy Spirit. If you have the Holy Spirit, you belong to Christ; you are property of God. And if anyone does not have him, he does not belong to him.
In verse 14, after saying that we were sealed by the Holy Spirit of the promise, it says what the Holy Spirit is within us. Here it uses another figure: the Holy Spirit is not only the seal, which indicates that we are God's property, but also the guarantee. And this is a figure that we are even less familiar with than the previous one, and it has many meanings.
I want to call your attention to one of these meanings, and that is that the Holy Spirit is the down payment in us, he is the first-fruit, he is what we can already enjoy today. What this passage wants to say is that what we can experience today is thanks to God's Holy Spirit, even though it is not the fullness of what is yet to come.
So here is the second point, brothers. I get the impression that somehow we have devalued God the Holy Spirit; that, for some reason, the Holy Spirit has not received all the importance and the place that corresponds to him.
We read in the Bible about the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and because the Holy Spirit is mentioned in third place, perhaps our carnal mind tends to think that he must not be as important as the Father and the Son.
On the other hand, it also makes it more difficult for us because when we speak about God the Father, we can immediately identify him as a person, and when we speak about the Son, the Son's title enables us easily to think about a person. But when we mention the Holy Spirit, it is not so easy to think about him as a person. We hear the word 'Spirit', and what we think of is a force or an energy. So it is not surprising that the Jehovah's Witnesses present him in this way, as a force, as something impersonal; a Spirit. All this makes it more difficult for us.
I had to admit to this in a pastor's meeting. I said to them: Brothers, I believe that in my theology, in my doctrine, I was correct as far as believing in God the Father, in God the Son, in God the Holy Spirit, and in believing that the three persons and that the three of them are God and the three are one God; but in my practical experience, I have to admit that I have been more like a Jehovah's Witness. My fellowship with the Father and with the Son has been clear and definite, but not with the Holy Spirit.
Might it not be necessary to proclaim this today as well; that the Holy Spirit is not an active force, he is not a mere energy? The Holy Spirit is a person, that the Holy Spirit is God. Amen!
Look at how tremendous this is: Not only the Son had to be sent; it was absolutely necessary that, after having returned to the Father, the Holy Spirit was sent. Look at Galatians 4:4: "But when the fullness of the time came - remember this phrase - God sent his Son". So when the moment in which this vision was to be finalized, once and for all, in an objective, historical, and eternal way, "God sent his Son".
But we do not see what follows as having the same importance, or with the same clarity. Verse 6 says: "And because ye are sons, God sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father!" This is the second sending! God not only sent his Son. God's work does not remain finished in the work of the Son alone, because it would only be external. Objetivly it would be finished, positionally it would be finished; but not in a subjective way, not so that we could experience it, in personal way.
And so the Lord Jesus Christ says: "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". The Lord Jesus Christ knew what he was saying when he was said that. He, better than anybody knew that if this second sending was not fulfilled, all of God's work - how tremendous this is- would only be a reality in the person of Christ; but we would still be absolutely outside of this work.
Another Comforter
So when Jesus says: "It is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you", he is not speaking about something additional. Without God's second sending, there is no gospel, there is no church, there is no will of God - I mean, of course, in us-, and man would remain unreached. Why? Let's turn to John's gospel chapter 14:15 onwards: " If ye love me, ye will keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may be with you for ever, even the Spirit of truth: whom the world cannot receive; for it beholdeth him not, neither knoweth him: ye know him; for he abideth with you, and shall be in you".
About whom is he speaking? About another Comforter, about God's Holy Spirit, who in this moment was dwelling with the disciples, because the Holy Spirit was dwelling in Christ. But the promise is: "And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may be with you for ever".
And then, in 18 he says to them: "I will not leave you desolate: I come unto you". In that "I will come unto you" he was not speaking about his second coming. What he wanted to say to them was: "I'm going and I'll be right back". In verse 19 he says: " yet a little while - that is, just before going to the cross and dying- and the world beholdeth me no more; but ye behold me: because I live, ye shall live also. In that day...". What day is that, or when would this day begin? He is not speaking about his second coming, he is speaking of the day in which he is going to send another Comforter.
"In that day ye shall know- you will experiment - that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you". " In that day you are going to experience that I am in you, because the Holy Spirit that dwells with you will be in you". So Christ is not only glorious and powerful in the heavens; but also glorious and powerful in us, by God's Holy Spirit.
And just in case that were not enough, brothers, verse 23 says: "If a man love me, he will keep my word: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him". Reading this in the New International version, it says: "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him." Through God's holy and glorious Spirit, not only does He live in us, but Christ and the Father also live in us. Hallelujah!
The church is not only the Temple of the Holy Spirit; it is also the house of the Son and the residence of the Father; through the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who was sent after the Son, by means of the Son and by the work of the Son. Blessed is the Lord! The way to the Father is Christ; but the way to Christ is the Spirit.
Here is the explanation for why God is Three, why God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit; here is the explanation of why there is no fourth person. Why are they three, and absolutely and only three? Because the Spirit closes the circle. If you have not considered the importance of the Spirit, there is still an incomplete circle. By God's Holy Spirit, by his work, his function, his ministry, everything is finished and complete.
The Spirit in Ephesians
Let's return to Ephesians. By continuing to read the rest of Ephesians, following this mentioning of the Holy Spirit in verses 13 and 14, we discover how in every chapter there is a mention of the Spirit so as to insist that when speaking about subjective experience, about the personal experience of this glory, about this heavenly vision, the Holy Spirit is fundamental and absolutely necessary.
For example, in chapter 2, verse 18, it says: "For through him - through Christ - we both - the Jews and the gentiles - have our access in one Spirit unto the Father". There is a progression: in chapter 1 it speaks of the place that the Holy Spirit occupies in God's plan; but then, in chapter 2 and in the rest of Ephesians, the Holy Spirit continues being mentioned, and every time it has to do with the personal experience of how the church begins to experience this glory, this heavenly vision in a practical way.
And here it says to us that, thanks to Jesus Christ, we have access to the Father, but only in the Spirit. We already read in Galatians that: "God sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father!". This is what it means to have access to the Father, to be brought into the Father: that we enter in as children, calling God our Father, my Father, in the Spirit.
Let's look now in chapter 3 verse 16. In every mention of the Spirit, as Ephesians advances, there is a progression. It says: "... that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, that ye may be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inward man". This means more than having access to the Father. Now we are speaking about this inner reality: that Christ lives in us. And that is by the Spirit.
Ephesians 4:30: "And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, in whom ye were sealed unto the day of redemption". Here I insist again, brothers, on the fellowship with the Spirit. Look at the order: do not grieve God's Spirit, the Holy Spirit. He is a person! Have fellowship with this person. Speak to him, listen to him. Harken to him, walk with him. Have fellowship, have companionship.: "he will be with you forever!". He is living in you twenty-four hours of the day: have fellowship! Do not grieve him!
How is God's Spirit grieved? The verse below says: with bitterness, with wrath, with anger, with clamor, with railing and malice. We are the temple of God's Holy Spirit, we are God's dwelling place in the Spirit. Do not grieve him! Depend on the Spirit. In order to sing, depend on the Spirit; to speak the Word, depend on the Spirit; to stand up and proclaim, depend on the Spirit. Entrust yourself to him, hope in him, walk with him.
Chapter 5 verse 18: "And be not drunken with wine, wherein is riot, but be filled with the Spirit". Not only have we to receive him: we have to be full of the Spirit. This being filled up does not refer to the first time that we were filled with the Spirit. Here the verb is a present continuous: "Continue being filled, repeatedly. The fullness is not once and for all; continue being filled, remain full".
And it ends in chapter 6, where the context is now spiritual warfare, where a believer, a son of God, is a soldier, and can now fight for God's work, can enter God's service in consecration, to fight for God's interests.
Granting him the place that corresponds to him
The three most important chapters of the whole Bible, which speak about the Holy Spirit, the clearest, the most forceful, are John chapters 14, 15 and 16. And do you know who spoke those words? The Lord Jesus Christ. And do you know when he did it? During his final time with his disciples. It was then that He spoke about the Holy Spirit as He never had done before, because the Lord Jesus Christ knew the importance of what was to happen after he went to the cross.
I began to be burdened with this, which I have shared with you today, when one day the Lord, several years ago, spoke to me this way: "Whilst you do not give the Holy Spirit the place that corresponds to him, Jesus Christ will not be able to be head of the church in an effective and real way". I found this very interesting, because it does not draw attention to the Holy Spirit for the Holy Spirit's cause, but it is about giving the place that corresponds the Holy Spirit so that Jesus Christ may have the place that corresponds to him. Praised be the Lord! Amen.