THE WORK OF THE SPIRIT
"I
neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the
revelation of Jesus Christ."
-GALATIANS
1:12 [KJV]
When
I speak of a revelation of Christ, I am not contending for anything
visionary. Dreams, voices, appearances in the air, sights and sounds,
crosses in the sky, and apparitions at the bedside, I must leave to
others. I believe that for the most part they are the portion of
visionaries and enthusiasts, for we have all these in the visible
Church of God, as well as Pharisees and hypocrites, Arminians and
Antinomians. I will not indeed deny that the Lord may have wrought by
them in some peculiar instances, as in the cases of Augustine and
Colonel Gardiner. But taking the generality of God's people and the
ordinary mode of divine operation, the revelation of Christ to the
soul is a gracious internal discovery by the power of the Spirit,
revealing Him to
the eyes of faith. Nothing is seen or heard by the bodily senses; and
yet His glorious
Person is as much seen, and His
voice as much heard, as though eye and ear beheld His
glory and listened to His
words. It is altogether of grace, wholly heavenly and divine, and
therefore nature, sense, and reason have no place here. It is a
divine bringing into the heart of the power and presence, grace and
glory, love and blood of Christ in a way that may be felt but never
described. Under these spiritual operations and influences,—for it
is the Spirit's work to take of the things of Christ and reveal them
to the soul; it is His
covenant office to testify of Jesus,—under these sacred influences,
divine anointings, and gracious operations, Christ is made known unto
the heart and looked unto, according to His
own word: "Look unto Me
and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth."
-Gospel
report by preacher J.C. Philpot (1802-1869 A.D.)
February
16th, EARS FROM HARVESTED SHEAVES
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