In This Issue

• TWO DAYS BEFORE THE PASSOVER
• THE INDWELLING OF THE SPIRIT
• "EYE HATH NOT SEEN, NOR EAR HEARD"
• MORE INFORMATION...

TWO DAYS BEFORE THE PASSOVER

"Now it came to pass... that [Jesus] said to His disciples, 'You know that after two days is the Passover, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.' Then the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders of the people assembled at the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, and plotted to take Jesus by trickery and kill Him. But they said, 'Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people'" (Matt. 26:1-5).

In these words, the inspired writer records the events leading directly to the arrest and crucifixion of Jesus. In Matthew 24, Jesus had answered His disciples' question concerning the destruction of Jerusalem that would take place within about 40 years of the time He was speaking. In the last half of Matthew 24 and all through chapter 25, He spoke to them of His second coming and the end of the world. Having finished this discourse, He reminded them that within two days He would observe their last Passover together, be arrested, tried, condemned, and crucified.

Even as Jesus was talking with His disciples, the Jewish leaders had met together in the palace of Caiaphas, the high priest, and were discussing how they might subtly get Jesus within their grasp, and rid themselves of Him. As they contemplated His demise, they assumed that they would have to exercise patience until after the Passover season. During the eight days of the Passover season, multitudes of devout Jews from all over the world were gathered in Jerusalem, and many of them had been favorably impressed with the teachings and miracles of Jesus. The Jewish leaders assumed that they would have no chance of successfully capturing and destroying Jesus until those crowds returned to their respective homes. They had not figured on an incident about to occur, which Matthew records beginning with verse 14 -- one of Jesus' disciples makes an offer to betray Him and deliver Him up to His enemies.

At the time of Jesus' betrayal by Judas, Caiaphas was the high priest. He had been appointed by Gratus, the predecessor of Pilate as procurator of Judea. He was the son-in-law of Annas, who had been deposed by Gratus. Among the Jews, Annas was still very influential, and it was to his palace that Jesus was taken first after His arrest, John 18:13. Originally, the high priest served until his death, but the Herods and later the Romans, jealous of their power and prestige, deposed and appointed high priests at will.

--CRJ

THE INDWELLING OF THE SPIRIT

The Bible teaches a phenomenon known as the indwelling of the Spirit of God in those who are God’s people. Paul said to the Christians in Corinth, "Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?" (1 Cor 3:16). And to the saints in Rome, he wrote: "But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you (Rom 8:9-11)."

Now, a moment of reflection will tell us that the Divine Spirit is not in us in the same sense as the Divine Spirit was in Jesus. Jesus was Deity in the flesh -- God incarnate. We are not.

And again, a moment’s reflection should tell us that we ordinary Christians do not experience the same manifestation of the Holy Spirit that was experienced by the inspired apostles and prophets of the first century. The Holy Spirit miraculously guided them into all truth, brought to their memory all that Jesus had taught, and revealed to them things yet future -- John 14:26, 16:13, etc. Thus Paul wrote of what he called "the signs of an apostle" (2 Cor. 12:12). We do not manifest the "signs of an apostle." We are neither apostles nor prophets.

Neither is the Biblical teaching of indwelling the same thing as omnipresence. God’s presence in that sense involves the non-Christian as well as the Christian. Indeed, apart from God’s omnipresence, there is a sense in which He dwells in, and walks with the ordinary Christian, 1 John 4:12-16.

The fact that these terms -- indwelling and abiding -- in such a context refer to a RELATIONSHIP should be evident by the fact that as Deity dwells in the Christian, at one and the same time, the Christian is dwelling in God. This is not a matter of physical location but is a relationship of togetherness. As we live in obedience to His word, we walk together. We dwell together. He abides in us and we in Him. When the word of Christ "dwells" in us richly, we are thus "filled with the Spirit." (Compare Col. 3:16 with Eph. 5:18-19). "As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him" (Col. 2:6). "But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin" (1 John 1:7). A key word here is "fellowship."

To have Deity in our hearts and lives is to be in fellowship with Him. That fellowship begins when we exercise Biblical faith by repenting of our sins and being baptized INTO Christ (Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38; Rom. 6:3-5; Gal. 3:27; Titus 3:5). That relationship is maintained as we continue to walk in the light of His word, as He is in the light.

Paul shows that we cannot have this relationship with God unless we refuse to have such fellowship with those things in opposition to God. "Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: ‘I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.’" (2 Cor. 6:14-16). Note that the terms "fellowship," "communion," "accord," "part," and "agreement," describe our relationship -- either with God, or with things in opposition to God. Either the world lives in us as we walk in darkness -- or God dwells in us and walks among us as we walk in the light.

The fact that the term "indwelling" reflects the concept of harmony, unity, or agreement, is also evident in Jesus’ prayer to the Father in John 17:20-21, where He prayed for unity (togetherness, fellowship, oneness) among believers: "I do not pray for these [apostles] alone, but also for those who will believe in me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me."

If you have obeyed the gospel of Christ, and if you continue to faithfully serve Him, you have God -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit -- walking in you and with you, as you continue to abide in Him. Jesus promised, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. (John 14:23). Such relationship is impossible for the disobedient. "Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?" (Amos 3:3).

--CRJ

"EYE HATH NOT SEEN, NOR EAR HEARD"

"Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those who love Him" (1 Cor. 2:9).

These words from the pen of the beloved Paul are often spoken at funerals. This is due to the fact that many think Paul here is speaking of heaven. I am aware of the fact this would give much comfort to one who sorrows over the death of a loved one. There are many other Scriptures that tell us about heaven. However, it is my understanding, at this time, that Paul is not referring to the glories that believers will receive after death, but rather to the blessings that one enjoys now as a result of his love for God.

Paul Was Speaking About His Message

As we examine the first five verses of this chapter, we note that Paul was speaking that the message of his preaching was of divine power. In verse one, he speaks of declaring to them the Testament of God. He declared unto them that Jesus was crucified. This message was not of human wisdom. Then he follows in verse five that our faith should not be in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. What then does it mean that our faith should be in the power of God? The power of God had to be revealed.

A Message Revealed

Looking at verse seven, we understand from Paul that the message he was presently delivering at one time was hidden. The truth about what God had prepared for those whom He loved had never been seen by the eye, ear, or heart of man. Now Paul informs us that the things not seen by eye, heard by ear, or thought of by the mind of man have now been revealed to us (the apostles) by the Holy Spirit. Only the Spirit of God knows the deep things of God. Since they have been revealed by the Spirit, we can now know the deep things of God. Listen to the words of Paul in the Ephesian letter: "How that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I wrote before in a few words which when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ)" (Eph. 3:3-4). When we leave these words of Paul as he spoke them, it seems clear that what he is speaking about when he said that eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, and the heart of man had not thought of, was that which had been revealed to them being the message, the gospel of Christ.

Let us not overlook the blessings that now come to those who love the Lord: the forgiveness of sins, to be called the sons of God, (Rom. 8:14), and the blessing of being a member of His church, the body now (1 Cor. 12:13), and the joy of serving the Lord. Let us be grateful for the blessing of Romans 8:28, and the blessing of prayer -- the blessing that we can cast our care on Him, (1 Pet. 5:7).

Eye hath not seen, ear heard, nor the heart of man ever thought about the glorious gospel of Christ that was revealed by the Spirit. The gospel of Christ is the power of God (Rom. 1:16).

--Robert Jackson, Guardian of Truth, Feb. 20, 1997

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