The Holy Spirit was promised through the prophets. "Until the spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest. Then judgment shall dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness remain in the fruitful field. And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance forever. And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places."—Isa. 32:15-18.

"And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh: that they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God."—Ezek. 11:19, 20. "For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring: and they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the water courses."—Isa. 44:3, 4.

"Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God."—Ezek. 36:25-28.

"And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions: and also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit."—Joel 2:28, 29.

Promised through Christ. "And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high."—Luke 24:49. "But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life."—John 4:14. "He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)"—John 7:38, 39.

"If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever; even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you."—John 14:15-17, 20, 26. "But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me."—John 15:26.

"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; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they believe not on me; of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall show it unto you."—John 16:7-15. "John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence."—Acts 1:5.

A Fulfillment of This Promise

"And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost."—Acts 2:1-4.

A Testimony of Its Fulfillment

"But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; and it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: and on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy.... This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. 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."—Acts 2:16-18, 32, 33.

To Whom Is This Promised?

"Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call."—Acts 2:38, 39.

"And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him."—Acts 5:32. "That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith."—Gal. 3:14.

"That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost."—Rom. 15:16. "But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth."—2 Thess. 2:13.

In a previous chapter we have noticed that the Holy Ghost experience of the apostles and all those of the early church was the same; and we see definitely by the texts just quoted that it is the design of God that all believers receive it. Also we have seen that this Holy Ghost experience is a subsequent one to regeneration, and identical with sanctification. Every young convert who has truly been regenerated, will in due time find that something more needs to be done in his heart before he can fully realize an experience that will correspond with the fulfillment of the many exceeding great and precious promises of the Holy Ghost.

The Scriptures clearly teach us that regeneration is a work of the Holy Spirit. "For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body."—1 Cor. 12:13. This does not have reference to the Pentecostal baptism, but to the work of the Holy Spirit in regeneration, inducting us into the body of Christ, the church. This is very different from the baptism with the Holy Ghost. In regeneration the Holy Ghost baptizes the believer into Christ; in sanctification Christ baptizes the believer with the Holy Ghost. "He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire."—Matt. 3:11.

This latter is the sanctification and Pentecostal experience. Both are spiritual experiences. When reading these wonderful promises by the prophets, we can clearly distinguish the two works of grace foretold.

The birth of the Spirit (John 3:3-8), or that experience which inducts us into Christ, must necessarily precede the experience of sanctification. The Holy Ghost will never come into the temple to abide until he has first gained possession of the same. The heart must first be both justified and fully consecrated before the divine Guest can make it his exclusive and permanent abode. This glorious grace of sanctification does not detract from the marvelous work of justification. Both have their import and place in God's wonderful redemption plan, and stand out distinctly in many of the scriptures; and yet we occasionally hear of some who say of this beautiful doctrine that it is not taught in the word of God. Why such remarks are made is simply because of a misconception of the glorious redemption plan—in some instances it is owing to the perverted doctrines of men, while in others it may be because of a perverted individual experience of justification. To the willing and obedient heart, God will impart knowledge and understanding of his sweet and glorious soul-rest.

Oh, let us praise and magnify the Lord for his wonderful grace that he has so abundantly supplied through repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ, that he is so willing and ready to remove from our hearts the guilt of all our sins and transgressions, and remember them against us no more forever, and then bestow upon us this blessed inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in Christ Jesus! Would that every justified believer might be kept from all the perverted doctrines of men, so that the heart could receive the knowledge of the pure word of God and become instructed in the doctrine of the Holy Ghost life. The promise of the Father which the resurrected Christ said he would send upon his justified disciples was no more a promise for them than for every justified believer throughout the gospel dispensation. Why then should any of us come short of entering into this blessed covenant of an entire consecration and receiving the fulfillment of the promise? Thank God it is for us and our children and to all that are afar off.

Until the believer reaches this grace, he is not in his normal spiritual condition, and cannot live the Christ-life in a manner that is perfectly satisfactory to his own heart. The great need is a clean heart and the indwelling Holy Spirit, without which there is not the power within at all times to withstand every evil attack of the enemy with perfect victory. Jesus knew this need in his disciples. Their usefulness in the world could not be satisfactory until they received the fulfillment of the promise. They had been useful in his hands and under his personal guidance in the ministry of the gospel of the kingdom. They had already by his help been able to bear fruit, but it was the will of the Father that they should bear more fruit, through the power of the Spirit-filled life; hence they were not to depart from Jerusalem until they were endued with power from on high. "Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you." How many of the dear people of God today have never had their Pentecost! Some are out in the world preaching the gospel with no deeper spiritual experience than that of the disciples before they tarried at Jerusalem. Many have mistaken some natural ability for the power of the Holy Ghost. Others have accepted the doctrine of sanctification theoretically—made a formal consecration and claimed the experience, but have never received the Holy Ghost. Dearly beloved brethren and sisters, let us entreat you to tarry and do not depart from your positive death bed consecration, until you are endued with power from on high. It is the will of the Father that you receive the Holy Spirit to possess your being—the consecrated temple—and make your life from this moment a reproduction of the life of Jesus. He is not here now as he was during his earthly ministry, but the Father has designed that the Holy Spirit should dwell in the hearts of consecrated men and women who shall go forth into the world and be witnesses unto Jesus—representatives that will live the Christ-life in this world, so that men may plainly see his character and fruits in us. When Jesus ascended to the throne, he by no means intended that his people should be left comfortless, or deprived of his presence; but rather, he said, "It is expedient for you that I go away."

The "Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost," is the divine executive of Jesus. He was the power and life in Jesus when here in his redemption work, and when he ascended to his throne in heaven the Holy Ghost descended to earth to carry on this glorious redemption work to the end of the world. But he must have human instrumentality through which to work. Where he can find a truly consecrated temple, there he makes his abode, and taking full control of the entire being, performs the perfect will of God through this instrumentality. This is why the apostles were so much more useful after Pentecost than before. They were now fully possessed by the Holy Ghost, and in, through faith in, the name of Jesus were enabled to shake the world. Jesus has left his name here on earth. Through it the Holy Spirit now effects this great redemption. He cannot do this by himself. He cannot "reprove the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment," only as he can find consecrated hearts on earth in which to abide. The Spirit-filled lives of the people are the only factors that can be used in the hand of God to produce apostolic results in these perilous days in which we live. This final reformation was unquestionably begun by the power of the Holy Spirit, and will never be completed by any other power. It is a spiritual work, and only as the glorious doctrine of sanctification is taught and the experience obtained and retained, will the church reach the apostolic plane.

CHAPTER V.