Heavenly Teaching

"All your children shall be taught of the Lord." Isaiah 54:13

The full extent of the "spiritual blessings" with which God has blessed the church in "heavenly places in Christ" can never be thoroughly known in this present world. It is only when the ransomed of the Lord shall reach the heavenly Canaan, that they will fully know either the dreadful gulf of misery from which they have been delivered, or the height of bliss and glory to which they are exalted in Christ. But sufficient is revealed in the word of God to show that they are indeed blessed with especial privileges and mercies; and that in being thus blessed their distinction as "a peculiar people" chiefly consists. Moses, therefore, on one occasion thus pleaded with God– "Wherein shall it be known here that I and your people have found grace in your sight? Is it not in that you go with us? so shall we be separated, I and your people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth". Ex 33:16

But of these peculiar blessings that God has blessed his church with in Christ, four seem especially prominent above the rest– their eternal election– their particular and personal redemption– their regeneration– and their heavenly teaching, which last is the promise contained in the text, "All your children shall be taught of the Lord."

But why should this last occupy a prominent place in the catalogue of covenant blessings? Because without it the others would be in a measure nugatory; for such is the blindness of man's heart by nature, so thick a veil of ignorance is spread over his understanding, and so completely is he "alienated from the life of God," that he never can have any spiritual knowledge of the "only true God, and of Jesus Christ, whom he has sent" (in which knowledge eternal life consists) , until he is made a partaker of this divine teaching.

We will endeavor, then, with God's blessing, to trace out a little of the NATURE and EFFECTS of this divine teaching in the soul. And as it consists for the most part of two leading branches– first, the teaching whereby we know GOD; and secondly, the teaching whereby we know OURSELVES, we will look at each of these in their order.

I. But it will be desirable, first, to consider what is the NATURE of this heavenly teaching. And as the Holy Spirit certainly knows and has described its nature best, we cannot do better than examine one or two of the scriptural figures and explanations given of it.

1. This divine teaching, then, is compared in one place to dew and rain– "My teaching shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distill as the dew" De 32:2 But what is the nature and effect of rain, and more particularly of dew? It falls gently; and yet, though it falls so quietly and stilly, it has a penetrating and softening effect. Thus it is with God's teaching in the soul– like dew, it falls from heaven stilly and gently into the heart, and yet it penetrates the soul with a secret and invincible power, that opens while it softens it. It does not tear it up, like hail or lightning, but it sinks deeply and yet quietly into it, and with a peculiar softening power so pervades it as to take a thorough and entire possession of it.

2. Another thing to which it is compared in scripture, is oil, or unction, as the apostle John says, "You have an anointing from the Holy One;" and again, "But the anointing which you have received of him abides in you, and you need not that any man teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it has taught you, you shall abide in him" 1Jo 2:20,2:27 This figure does not differ very widely from the one just mentioned, but contains three leading ideas– that it penetrates, softens, and spreads. Thus the unction of God's teaching in the soul not merely penetrates and softens the heart into which it comes, but also gradually spreads and sinks into it more and more deeply; it supples the conscience and makes it tender, and penetrates into the inmost roots and fibers of a man's heart.

This teaching is the special work of God the Holy Spirit on the soul, and is as distinct from our own wisdom, or from any knowledge that we may obtain by the exercise of the natural understanding, as eternity from time, heaven from hell, and Christ from Belial.

II. But we pass on to consider what are the special EFFECTS and FRUITS of this divine anointing.

The nature of this teaching is less plainly revealed in the scriptures, than its effects. And therefore though the figures above quoted sufficiently show that there is in its nature something soft and gentle, falling like rain upon the new mown grass, or like oil penetrating the heart into which it comes, yet, for the most part, we cannot, except by its fruits and effects, be certain that we are partakers of this divine teaching. But when we look at them (for it always will produce fruits and effects) we may sometimes, when the Lord is pleased to shine into the soul, come to a blessed conclusion, that we are anointed with this unction from the Holy One.

1. I believe, then, that the first effect of this special teaching of God in the soul is, to convince us of the truth and authority of God's word. We may have professed to believe the word of God from our infancy; we may have been instructed by our parents or in the Sunday School as to the truth of the scriptures; we may have studied in books the evidence of their authenticity and inspiration; but all the while our heart was not touched with any divine power. The head might have been enlightened, but no enlargement of heart was ever sensibly felt under the power of truth, nor any powerful conviction wrought in the soul by the application of it, so as positively to convince us that God himself speaks in the scripture.

But when the "anointing" of "the Holy One" drops into the soul with power, it speaks with such authority through the scriptures, that they are at once known and felt to be the word of the living God. If previously one had been tempted with infidelity, if the mind had been puzzled by apparent contradictions, so as to be almost on the point of giving up the scriptures as a divine revelation, yet when this special teaching and divine anointing come into the heart, the word of God carries with it a power and authority that puts every infidel argument to the rout, and disperse every objection as the sun dissipates the morning mists– and the soul is abundantly satisfied that the scripture is the revelation of the mind and will of the blessed God. And whatever infidel objection may afterwards arise, whatever doubts may assault the mind, whatever contradictions may seem to unsettle the foundation of his hope, he never thoroughly loses the solemn conviction which God himself has given him– that the scripture is the truth of the living God.

2. The next thing, I believe, that this "anointing from the Holy One" teaches is, the BEING of a God. Now, of the being of a God, we might have been persuaded by traditional religion, or we might have been convinced of it by natural conscience– but these could never give us a feeling conviction of the being of such a God as the scripture sets forth. The apostle Paul declares, that all men by nature are "without Christ... having no hope, and without God in the world", Eph 2:12 literally 'atheists.' And not only have they no knowledge of the being of God, but as he again says, quoting from the Psalms, "There is no fear of God before their eyes" Ro 3:18 They have no inward conviction that there is a self-existent Jehovah, whose "eyes are in every place;" that he is an omnipresent, omniscient, almighty, eternal, and just God; that his eye sees into the secret and inmost recesses of the soul, and that he will one day bring them into judgment. But no sooner does "an anointing from the Holy One" convince us of the power and authority of the inspired scriptures, than we learn through it the being and existence of a great and glorious Jehovah, who is around our bed, and about our paths, and spies out all our ways.

3. But with this inward spiritual conviction of the being of God, there is manifested by this divine anointing the CHARACTER of Jehovah. Not merely that he exists, but that he is what he declares himself to be in the revelation of his holy character and attributes. His word is brought home with divine authority to the soul, and with a living power to the conscience; and thus it is taught to see him as a HOLY and a JUST God who will "by no means clear the guilty;" that he hates sin with an absolute hatred, and will infallibly punish all those who are found under the curse and condemnation of the law, when they stand before his dread tribunal. So that here the holy character of God is opened up with power to the soul by the work of the law in a man's conscience.

Many, I believe, of God's people, who have had a work of the law on their conscience, are at times much exercised and tried in their minds, whether they have really known it, for this reason, because no sentence of the Decalogue, or particular portion of the Old Testament has come with power into their heart. But, wherever the character of Jehovah, as a just and holy God, has been spiritually made known to the soul, there the law has done its work on the conscience. God, as the Lawgiver, is known, though the exact letter of the law may not be felt. The spirit of the law, in the hands of a just and a holy God, is made known to the heart and conscience, producing conviction, condemnation, guilt, and a sense of ruin; where the exact letter of the law is not made use of by the Lawgiver to do the work. But the spirit of the law, in the hands of the Lawgiver, has produced condemnation, fear, guilt, and a sense of misery and ruin, so as to cut away all legal hopes, pull down self-righteousness, and lay the soul in ruins before God's footstool. And wherever this is experienced, there is a work of the law on the conscience.

4. But this teaching of the Spirit, when the soul has learned the holiness of God, and has felt itself condemned by his righteous law, and cut off from all hope or help in self– this same "anointing from the Holy One," which "is truth and is no lie," unfolds to the heart, and brings into the conscience experimentally, a knowledge of the LORD JESUS CHRIST. Those are striking words, and they have often rested with weight and power on my mind, perhaps no part of scripture more so, "This is life eternal, that they might know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent" John 17:3 How briefly the Lord of life and glory has here summed up in what eternal life consists!

How many are anxious to know what is the way of salvation, how eternal life is to be obtained, and how to "flee from the wrath to come!" but the Lord Jesus has shown in one short sentence in what eternal life consists, that it is in the knowledge of the "only true God, and of Jesus Christ whom he has sent." He therefore that knows the Father and the Son has eternal life in his soul. The Lord Jesus, in the chapter, which I read this morning, quoted this among other passages of the Old Testament, and says, "It is written in the Prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that has heard, and has learned of the Father, comes unto me" John 6:45 He lays this down, then, as one especial fruit of divine teaching, that it produces a coming unto him.

The Spirit, who teaches to profit, holds up before the eyes of the soul, the Person, work, blood, love, grace, and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. He shows the soul that he is just such a Savior as it needs. He opens up the dignity of his Person, and shows that he is God-man. He makes known in the conscience that he has offered up himself a sacrifice for sin– that he has shed his atoning blood so that the sin of the church is forever put away from the sight of a just God. He opens up before the eyes of the mind his glorious righteousness, as that in which the Father is well-pleased, and in which, if the soul has but a saving interest, it is secure from the wrath to come. He unfolds to the heart the willingness of Christ to receive every coming sinner; he shows the treasures of mercy and grace which are locked up in him– and brings down in the heart the comforting words that he spoke in the days of his flesh, such as, "Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest" Mt 11:28 "Him that comes unto me I will never cast out." "If any man thirsts, let him come unto me, and drink" John 7:37

And sometimes he unfolds to the understanding, and brings into the heart a sweet melting sensation from seeing how, when Christ was upon earth, he healed the sick, gave eyes to the blind, and ears to the deaf; raised the dead, went about doing good; and how that in everything he said or did, he spoke forth the kindness and compassion of his loving heart. Thus, he sweetly draws the soul on, whereby it comes to Christ, casts itself at his blessed footstool, and looks upon him with the eye of faith. And whenever he brings the soul thus to come to Christ, with a real feeling of ruin and misery, with a true sense of guilt and condemnation, with a sincere submission to God's righteousness (as the apostle says), "Not going about to establish our own righteousness," but a "submitting of ourselves to the righteousness of God," Ro 10:3 and a yielding up of ourselves into his hands, there is a proof of heavenly teaching.

And whenever that blessed union of humility and love is felt, whereby the soul lies at the feet of the Lord, as Ruth lay at the feet of Boaz, beseeching him to cover it with the skirt of his garment, the Holy Spirit has wrought with power in that soul– it is taught of God– and has a saving interest in that special teaching, the result of which the Lord has declared to be, "Every man therefore that has heard, and has learned of the Father, comes unto me" John 6:45

5. This blessed teaching also leads the soul up into a knowledge of the HOLY SPIRIT. All God's people are led into a knowledge of the Trinity– not indeed by metaphysical reasoning or subtle arguments addressed to the understanding. The Spirit teaches them, not by reasoning addressed to the head, but by the power and dew of divine truth resting upon the heart. All God's people learn the doctrine of the Trinity in their souls. They learn, under divine teaching, the authority, justice, majesty, holiness, and in due time feel the love of God the Father. They learn the Godhead of Christ in their souls, by seeing and feeling the power of his blood, as the blood of God, Ac 20:28 and his righteousness as the "righteousness of God." And they learn the Deity and Personality of the Holy Spirit by feeling the divine power of his operations on their hearts. They learn also that he is God, by perceiving how he scrutinizes all their actions, brings to light every secret thought, and applies passages of scripture to their souls, which none but God could produce, or so suitably apply. And when they are thus led by divine teaching, into the Three Persons of the Godhead, they are brought to know and feel in the depths of conscience, that there are three Persons, equal in power, will, essence, and glory, and but one Jehovah.

Now these truths no man can learn in a saving manner, except by this special teaching. He may know all this, and much more than this, in his understanding and judgment– but a sensible realization of the power of these things in the conscience, a divine melting of the heart under them, with an enlargement of soul, and an experimental enjoyment of them, is the alone fruit of God's teaching resting on him, so as to make him "a new creature" in Christ.

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