THE K I NG ' S B U S I N E S S Lord and Christ. The Comforter brought consolation to sorrowing dis ciples. The Enduer conferred upon Christian workers power to witness. The Comforter testifies of Christ’s pres ence here until the end of the age. The Enduer speaks of His presence in heaven until the end of the age. The Comforter links us to Christ. The En duer links us to one another in Christ. THURSDAY, April 24. John 16:7-13. The Holy Spirit Our Helper. The Holy Spirit came to take the place of Christ and do for His disciples all that Christ had done. He was to do so much more than Christ had done, that the Master said it was expedient for Him to go away. The Greek word paraclete may be rendered comforter, advocate-or helper. It means one who comes along beside, another to give assistance. The common idea of com fort suggests a cradle and a lullaby. While Scripture sanctions this idea, Isaiah 66:13, the derivation of comfort (con-fortis, with strength) suggests a higher ministry. Suppose a traveller to be freezing in a wintry blizzard. There are two imaginable ways of helping him. He might be wrapped in warm blankets, carried to a blazing fire and given hot reviving drinks. Or on the other hand, his vital energies might be acted on from within and so aroused and stimulated, that he might be able without external aid to arise and vigor ously force his way through the storm to his destination. The Holy Spirit may help us in either of these »ways or indeed in any other way that Infinite Wisdom may suggest or the situation may require. FRIDAY, April 25. Acts 2:37-47. Helping the Apostles. Every reader of the New Testam nt must be impressed by the great and marvelous change in the Apostles before and after Pentecost. The hares became lions. When the Master was arrested they all forsook Him and fled. For more than a month after His death they had kept in hiding. Suddenly they re-appeared and in the most conspicu ous places and most public manner that their leader whom the Jews had con demned and the Romans had crucified, was the rightful King of both. They even entered the Jewish temple where a Roman garrison was quartered and cried in the ears of Jewish priest and Roman soldier, “This Jesus whom ye have crucified is both Lord and Christ.”
370 because humanity will then be Pente- costalized. Habbakuk 2:14. TUESDAY, April 22. Acts 2:1-13. Coming of the Spirit. Pentecost has been called the birth day of the Christian church. In the creation of man, God took the red earth clod, breathed into its nostrils the breath of life and Adam stood up a liv ing soul. 'On the day of Pentecost there were one hundred and twenty believers in the upper room, disjecta membra, unorganized and unrelated. The breath and fire of God came upon them and the church of the living God stood up a living soul. It was an organism not an organization. It became a spiritual body animated and energized by the Holy Spirit. The coming of the Spirit depended on the finished work of Christ, (death and resurrection.) Jno. 7:39. In response to the cry of Elisha, Elijah sent his mantle down to earth from the receding chariot of fire in token that His disciples’ prayer was answered. 2 Kings 2:9. The mantle of the Saviour’s abiding presence fell upon the waiting company in the upper room as a pledge and token that the Master had reached the right hand of the Father and was mindful of those he had left on earth. WEDNESDAY, April 23. Acts 19:1-7. Receiving the Holy Spirit. The- Holy Spirit may be received by a definite act of appropriating faith both as the indwelling abiding Comforter and the mighty Divine Enduer. There seems to have been two distinct givings of the Spirit corresponding to His two fold office. On the first day of the resur rection life Jesus stood in the midst of the disciples and breathed on them, saying “Receive ye the Holy Spirit.” This could not have been altogether an- ticipative. If so, it seems superfluous. They must have received the Spirit in a sense at that time. May the Spirit not have been in them for life and grace thenceforth? Fifty days later He came upon them for power and service, As the Comforter He came invisibly and inaudibly. As the Enduer He came with a mighty rushing wind and tongues of flame. As the Comforter He hides Himself. As the Enduer He reveals Himself. As Comforter He abides in the church as the Revelator. As the Enduer He works through the church as the Administrator. The Com forter is given by the risen Son of God. The Enduer is bestowed by the exalted
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