Five Operations of the Holy Spirit Part 5
It may be true that "divers kinds of tongues" are Spirit-given abilities to speak from time to time in languages spoken currently or in time past on the earth or by angels in Heaven; and that "interpretation of tongues" is the Spirit-given ability to understand statements made in a foreign language, whether the speaker is "in the Spirit" or employing his native tongue. It is possible, too, that these gifts apply to writing as well as to speaking.
If a Christian were able to understand by hearing or by reading a communication presented in a language that he had never learned by study or sufficient exposure, that, to our way of thinking, would be an example of "interpretation of tongues."
Our understanding is that the Holy Spirit does not intend for us to regard the list of nine "gifts" of the Spirit as being an inflexible pattern for the manner in which He will enable members of the Body of Christ to communicate the Glory of God. Rather, the accent is on diversity. There should be an infinite array and assortment of spiritual talents and abilities, each believer being a unique expression of the ascended Christ.
The apostle, the prophet, the evangelist, and the pastor-teacher are major revelations of Christ. Mixed in with these are innumerable endowments, each being designed in terms of the ministry of the individual saint. The result of the multiplicity is the radiating of God's Word in a splendour of colour and beauty.
Here we see the Lampstand, the many-sided revelation of God in Christ. Christ is the light of the world, and the Body of Christ is part of that light. Physical light is a composite of several colors that can be seen individually when part of the light is absorbed and part is reflected. So it is with the Holy Spirit. The shining of the Spirit from a saint is not a blinding white light but a beautiful "color" that is seen because part of the light is "absorbed" and part is "reflected."
There is no clearer symbol of Christ in the Scriptures than the Lampstand of the Holy Place of the Tabernacle of the Congregation. Christ is the Light—the communication of God to men. Apart from Him there is oppressive darkness. The Church, the Body of Christ, is portrayed by the six side-branches of the Lampstand that illuminate the central shaft. The central shaft of the Lampstand is Christ, the Light of the world.
Christ, Head and Body, will be the Light of the world forever. All the nations of the saved of the world will walk in that light. The Lampstand was pure gold hammered into shape. So it is that the revelation of God can never be mixed with natural ability. The Divine testimony is pure—wholly of God. This is why God is spending so much effort and time carefully perfecting the members of the Body of Christ, the six side- branches of the Lampstand.
But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. (I Corinthians 12:11)
Every member of the Body of Christ has an endowment of the Holy Spirit, a talent, that God intends for him to spend in the spiritual marketplace. The Body of Christ can be brought to maturity only by the variety of spiritual endowments. We saints must call on the Lord night and day, giving Him no rest until the assemblies of the disciples begin to operate as the Holy Spirit intends that they operate. Each church meeting should be full of the manifestation of the Holy Spirit as He moves through the assembled believers.
The Spirit gives ministries and gifts as He wills. Yet we are commanded to covet earnestly the endowments of the Spirit. God is pleased when we seek after spiritual abilities because it is by the gifts of the Spirit that we can strengthen our fellow members of the Body. We are not to be passive about the gifts of God but are to pursue them with our attention and strength. God never will give us an evil gift when we are seeking more of His Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit has been assigned the task of bringing a wife to the Lamb. He leads us in receiving and exercising the gifts and ministries.
For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. (I Corinthians 12:12)
Our physical body has eyes, hands, feet and numerous other parts, some visible and some internal. Yet the body lives and acts as a unit. So it is that Christ, the Anointed Deliverer of whom the Hebrew prophets spoke, has many parts. Christ is the Head of Christ. The Body of Christ still is being formed.
As soon as the Body has been prepared, the Head will descend from Heaven and the work of setting up the Kingdom of God will proceed with revolutionary power until the ends of the earth have been brought under the absolute rule of Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. (I Corinthians 12:13)
We were baptized by water into the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. We were baptized by the Holy Spirit into the Body of Christ. The baptism by the Holy Spirit into the Body of Christ is the beginning of the second death and second resurrection of redemption. The Body of Christ is the Church, the fulfillment of the Holy Place of the Tabernacle of the Congregation.
It is the same for Jew and Gentile. There is not one kind of Divine redemption for the Jews and another kind of Divine redemption for the Gentiles. There are not two churches.
We all have been baptized into one Body. We all have been made to drink of one Spirit. There is one Christ, one Vine, one Israel, one holy Jerusalem, one Servant of the Lord. He is Christ—Head and Body. We Gentiles have been grafted on the true Vine.
Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular. And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues. (I Corinthians 12:27,28)