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We are serializing a small book and we are halfway through. It was written in 1938 by the Rev. Rupert Thomas from Great Britain. It seems as entirely applicable today as it was nearly 90 years ago.
We have not edited the author’s material except for style—such as adding a comma here and there for clarity, or breaking up large paragraphs for legibility on our modern, 2 inch-wide screens.
All boldface and underlined portions indicate my emphasis. Italics are either by the author or from quoting the KJV, wherein italics indicates words supplied by the KJV translators. All comments in [brackets] and {braces} are mine. QUOTE:
Chapter 5: The Gifts of the Risen Christ
“Thou hast ascended on high, Thou hast led captivity captive, Thou hast received gifts for men. . . . That the Lord God might dwell among them.” Psalm l: 18.
“He ascended up on high.” Ephesians 4: 8.
And with the right of the triumphant Victor, He lavishly distributes gifts to men.
It is as the glorified man that He sits upon His Father’s Throne. It is as the reigning man that He holds His authority. He is the new federal head of the race, the second Adam, who claims the right to lead His new creation, His new race of beings, into the glorious climax of victory and the blessings of that victory.
[Note: I have heard some who criticize those who use the phrase, “the second Adam,” stating that the Bible says “the last Adam.” True as far as it goes.
1 Corinthians 15:45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
However, reading just two verses further, we find this:
1 Corinthians 15:47 The first man {Adam} is of the earth, earthy: the second man {Jesus Christ} is the Lord from heaven.
Therefore, both are correct, and let us not quibble any more on that point.]
His life having proved the possibilities, His death swept away the hindrances to others entering upon those possibilities. His resurrection and ascension to the Father gained the place from which it was and is possible to dispense that which is necessary to enable others to run the same course, and to finish it with some measure of the same victory.
The gifts which He dispenses are numerous. They are spiritual, and can be received only by a spiritual people. They are received, and can only be received, through the Holy Ghost by those whose lives are controlled by Him. They are for service and witness, and are dependent upon a real experience of the Baptism of the Spirit.
The relationship between the operation of the Holy Spirit and the present and future activities of the Kingdom is all important to those who covet a place in the roll of honour commenced in Hebrews 11, and to those who would be of the utmost use in the extension of that Kingdom.
The demonstration of these gifts of the Spirit was seen, in measure by our fathers, in past ages. Prophets and seers, in the service of the Kingdom, spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
Betimes they wrought works of power, healing the sick, raising the dead to life, and removing penurious circumstances by miraculous provisions. The elements of nature were utilized in the Spirit’s power to further God’s purpose.
All these manifestations of super[-natural] things were each and all in the interests of the Kingdom, and that Kingdom Nation which God had formed for Himself and His purposes in the earth.
In the fulness of time Christ came and in Him was manifested the like operations of the Holy Spirit. His public ministry, in relationship to the Kingdom, began after the Holy Ghost came upon Him. The words of the record are significant:
“And being full of the Holy Ghost, He was…tempted” …Having been tempted He went forth “in the power of the Holy Ghost”. Luke 4: 1 & 14.
The Lord, having performed His ministry on earth, declared the expediency of His departure to the reception of the Holy Spirit by the disciples.
“If I go not away the Comforter will not come.” John 16: 7.
Then, about to ascend, the Lord forbids further activity by the disciples, until they should be endued with power from on high. Having ascended, the Lord poured out the promise of the Father, and those first disciples received and manifested the gifts which the Son had received from the Father for men. Psalm 68.
In the purposes of God this was for Israel in relationship to the new Covenant. And after all, the true Church is essentially a part of Israel, that integral part that should be enjoying and demonstrating the value of the new Covenant more than any other part of Israel until Israel be wholly restored.
The New Testament quotation of the Psalm, which commenced this chapter, is found in the Epistle to the Ephesians, chapter 4.
“Wherefore He saith, when He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. …And He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers … for the work of the Ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ; till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ, that …that ye may grow up into Him in all things, which is the Head, even Christ: from Whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.” Ephesians 4: 8-16.
The connection of this passage with the contents of 1 Corinthians 12 is found in the 28th verse of that chapter, and identifies the gifts of office in the Ephesian Epistle with the miraculous gifts of the Spirit in the first Epistle to the Corinthians.
“And God hath set some in the Church: first Apostles; secondarily prophets; thirdly teachers; after that, miracles; then gifts of healings; helps; governments; kinds of tongues.” 1 Corinthians 12: 28.
At this point let us realize the importance of the first clause of this passage.
“God hath set in the Church.”
The gifts are not of man’s devising, but of God’s. It is interesting here to note that the greatest gift of office is linked with the least miraculous gift of the Spirit as proceeding from the same source. Each and all of these gifts are the supernatural manifestations of the work of the Spirit of God in the natural realm.
These God hath set in the Church. He has set them in the Church because they are necessary to the Church, making it presumptuous for any to despise even the least of them. They are all necessary, and have been given because, without them, it is impossible for a spiritual organism, such as the Church is meant to be, to fulfil the highest aim for which it was inaugurated.
The so-called Christian age is the age of the Holy Ghost. By various manifestations of Himself, God has fitted together the ages and developed His purpose in the earth. In the operations of the Holy Spirit, God has and is carrying on His purpose.
However long the Church remains on earth, the work of the Holy Spirit is essential to it. If the Church of Jesus Christ has not been withdrawn from the earth, then the work of the Holy Spirit, as manifested in the gifts, has not been withdrawn, for the one is essential to the other.
Yea, more, has God completed His covenant promises to Israel and fulfilled His mission through Israel? If not, then to Israel are these operations of the Holy Ghost necessary to the fullest fulfilment of God’s purpose in the Nation and the world. END QUOTE
(To be continued.)
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