你们要在城里等候,直到你们领受从上头来的能力。(路二十四49)
门徒要等候五旬节的来临,不单是为了准备自己,更是要等主得荣耀,成为一件历史事实。他得荣耀就怎样了?“他既被神的右手高举,又从父受了所应许的圣灵,就把你们所看见所听见的,浇灌下来”。约翰福音七章39节所作的注解--“那时还没有赐下圣灵来,因为耶稣尚未得着荣耀。”并不适用在我们身上,因为圣灵已经赐下来了,主也得了荣耀。我们所等候的,不是神旨,而是自己有没有预备好。
五旬节前,圣灵的感动与能力已在作工,但他并不在那里。主一升天得荣耀,圣灵就降临世间,而且一直在这里了。我们必须领受这个启示,知道他在这里。接受圣灵,是信徒必须一直持守的。我们接受了圣灵,就从升天的主接受了生气蓬勃的生命。
叫人改变的并不是圣灵的洗,乃是升天的基督藉圣灵进入人生命中。我们往往把新约中不可分割的事分割开来。圣灵的洗不是一种在耶稣基督之外的经历,而是基督升了天的明证。
圣灵的洗不会叫你想到时间和永恒,却令你想到宝贵的现今。“认识你……这就是永生。”现在就开始认识他,直到永远。
祈祷◆噢,主啊,我感谢你的话语--“不是倚靠势力,不是倚靠才能,乃是倚靠我的灵方能成事。”今天,我祈求你的灵给予我这种帮助,让我可以使你满意。
May 27 The Life That Lives
“Tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.” Luke 24:49
The disciples had to tarry until the day of Pentecost not for their own preparation only; they had to wait until the Lord was glorified historically. As soon as He was glorified, what happened? “Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, He hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.” The parenthesis in John 7:39 (“For the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified”) does not apply to us; the Holy Ghost has been given, the Lord is glorified; the waiting depends not on God's providence, but on our fitness.
The Holy Spirit's influence and power were at work before Pentecost, but He was not here. Immediately Our Lord was glorified in Ascension, the Holy Spirit came into this world, and He has been here ever since. We have to receive the revelation that He is here. The reception of the Holy Spirit is the maintained attitude of a believer. When we receive the Holy Spirit, we receive quickening life from the ascended Lord.
It is not the baptism of the Holy Ghost which changes men, but the power of the ascended Christ coming into men's lives by the Holy Ghost that changes them. We too often divorce what the New Testament never divorces. The baptism of the Holy Ghost is not an experience apart from Jesus Christ: it is the evidence of the ascended Christ.
The baptism of the Holy Ghost does not make you think of Time or Eternity, it is one amazing glorious NOW. “This is life eternal that they might know Thee.” Begin to know Him now, and finish never.