Five Operations of the Holy Spirit Part 20
The Holy Spirit enables our new nature to hold the passions of our adamic personality under subjection, meanwhile putting to death one by one the fleshly appetites of our body. When we become ill the Lord Jesus will heal our body if we petition Him, provided there is no special spiritual lesson being taught us through our sickness.
As soon as the work of redemption has reached the required level in the spiritual nature of the firstfruits of the Church, the Lord Jesus will be revealed from Heaven. At that time the work of redemption will expand to include our mortal bodies and then, under the direction of the Lord Jesus, will proceed to release the material creation.
For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they [the material creation], but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. (Romans 8:22,23)
The effect of sin has been that the physical creation remains bound in the chains of corruption. Now it is groaning in the pains of labor because Christ is about to bring forth a redeemed material creation. Not only the natural creation but we Christians also groan inwardly, longing for our adoption as God's sons.
Our adoption as God's sons is the redemption of our mortal body. First we must be born again and have the spiritual side of our personality set free from sin, created in the image of Christ, and made obedient to God. Then we will be ready for our adoption and our unveiling in the sight of the whole universe. At the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ we shall radiate Divine Glory as the sons of God, in spiritual and physical composition.
The perfected saint is in the image of our Lord Jesus, having been transformed into his spiritual nature and his material nature. He is ruler, under Christ, over all the works of God's hands. He is a judge of men and angels. This is the inheritance of those who follow the Lord Jesus in stern discipleship.
The only Person who has appeared on the earth in the full image of God is our Lord Jesus Christ. He is in the spiritual image of God and, since His resurrection, possesses a perfected material form as well, Christ is at home in Heaven and on the earth. We now are being created in His spiritual image. However, the Day is coming when we shall receive in addition a body like His glorious body. Then we shall be in His express image—spirit, soul, and body.
For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? (Romans 8:24)
Our hope is that as we diligently pursue the victory that is in Christ, the Holy Spirit will make alive our physical body and we shall be loosed from the corruption of carnality. We shall be set free so we can serve God in our whole being, not just in the spirit realm.
This is the true hope of the Christian discipleship. It is the hope of a fuller righteousness that keeps us pressing forward each day in the Holy Spirit, continuing in patience as the Spirit transforms us from within.
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)
Every child of God is brought into the purposes of God by election. As soon as he receives Christ, nothing occurs in his life by chance. To those who are called according to God's eternal purpose in Christ, every word, every action, every circumstance that affects them is according to design.
God has a purpose in His mind and He is not slack concerning the fulfilment of His plan. All things in the universe are working together for good, and that "good" is the perfected spiritual and physical composition of the members of the Body of Christ.
For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be changed into the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. (Romans 8:29)
God is creating brothers for His beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The brothers are lesser than Christ in that Christ is the eternal Word from the beginning and all authority and power in Heaven and earth have been given to Him by the Father.
Yet, it is the will of God that the brothers be in the image of Christ in spirit, soul and body. God is bringing many sons to glory. The sons of God are of the same Divine Substance as the Lord Jesus Christ because they have been created on His body and blood just as Eve was created on the rib of Adam.
Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. (Romans 8:30)
The operation of sanctification fits in between "justified" and "glorified" of the above verse. The reason sanctification is not inserted here, in Romans 8:30, is that our calling, our justification, and our glorification are sudden Divine works that were completed in vision before the earth was created. God sees them as past accomplishments.
Sanctification, on the other hand, is the present work and is the subject of most of the New Testament writings. Calling, justifying, and glorifying are not the main subjects of the New Testament. Contrary to much popular teaching the main subject from Romans to Revelation is sanctifying.
Sanctification is the process of choosing life instead of death. We can be defeated in this area. We can lose our crown.
We can lose our calling and election. The other operations of God are Divine, sudden, and already completed in vision.
If we fail to cooperate with the Holy Spirit in the operation of sanctification our crown will be given to another. Perhaps we will not be lost eternally but we will not receive the rewards prepared for the victorious saints.
We must labour to make our calling and election certain. This is what God's Word declares.
Even though God sees us as being called, justified, and glorified, our task is to walk in the Spirit of God, laying hold on eternal life. God has grasped us for an exceedingly great reward. We must reach up to God and match His grasp with a grasp of our own or we will not attain the crown.