"...the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist" (Rom. 4:17).
Posted : 20 Nov, 2011 02:13 AM
The commencement of spiritual life is sudden.
Beware of imagining that you can confine the Holy Spirit to a certain prescribed order in this or any other part of his work. He is sovereign; therefore he works according to his own will. We would not say that all conversion is a sudden work. There is a knowledge of sin, conviction of its guilt, repentance before God on account of it; these are frequently slow in their advance. The awareness of them may be gradual.
But the first communication of divine light and life to the soul is sudden, as sudden and instantaneous as was the creation of natural light�"And God said, Let there be light, and there was light" (Gen. 1:3). He but spoke the word, and in an instant chaos rolled away, and every object and scene in nature was bathed in light and glory. It is as sudden as was the communication of life to Lazarus�"Jesus cried out with a loud voice, 'Lazarus, come forth!'" (John 11:43). He but spoke the word, and in an instant "the man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth" (John 11:44). So is it in the first communication of divine light and life to the soul. The eternal Spirit says, "Let there be light," and in a moment there is light. He speaks again, "Come forth," and in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, the dead are raised.
The cases of Saul of Tarsus and of the thief upon the cross afford striking illustrations of the suddenness of the Spirit's operation. How sudden was the communication of light and life to their souls! While he may have used many instruments that led up to this point, it was no long and previous process of spiritual illumination. In a moment, and under circumstances most unfavorable to the change, at a period when the rebellion of the heart rose the most fiercely against God, "a light from heaven, brighter than the sun" (Acts 26:13) poured its transforming radiance into the mind of the enraged persecutor; and a voice, conveying life into the soul, reached the conscience of the dying thief. Both were translated from darkness into light, "in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye" (1 Cor. 15:52).
Do not overlook this wise and gracious method of the blessed Spirit's operation in regeneration. The means may have been simple. Perhaps it was the loss of a friend, an alarming illness, a word of reproof or admonition dropped from a parent or a companion, the singing of a hymn, the hearing of a sermon, or some text of Scripture winged with his power to the conscience. In the twinkling of an eye, the soul, dead in trespasses and sins, was made alive and translated into newness of life.
Oh blessed work of the blessed and Eternal Spirit! Oh mighty operation! Oh inscrutable wisdom! What a change has now passed over the whole man! Overshadowed by the Holy Spirit, that which is begotten in the soul is the divine life�a holy, influential, never-dying principle. Truly he is a new creature, "old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." Let it not be supposed that there is, in the subject, any previous preparation for this change. There can be no preparation for light or life. What preparation was there in chaos? What preparation was there in the cold clay limbs of Lazarus? What in Paul? What in the dying thief?
The work of regeneration is supremely the work of the Holy Spirit. The means of grace may be employed�and they are to be diligently employed�in accordance with God's purpose. Yet they are not to be deified. They are but means, "no help at all" without the power of God the Holy Spirit (John 6:63). Regeneration is his work, and not man's.
"...the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist" (Rom. 4:17).
Posted : 20 Nov, 2011 07:24 AM
dljrn04 writes:
"But the first communication of divine light and life to the soul IS SUDDEN, as sudden and instantaneous as was the creation of natural light�"And God said, Let there be light, and there was light" (Gen. 1:3). He but spoke the word, and in an instant chaos rolled away, and every object and scene in nature was bathed in light and glory. It is as sudden as was the communication of life to Lazarus�"Jesus cried out with a loud voice, 'Lazarus, come forth!'" (John 11:43). He but spoke the word, and in an instant "the man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth" (John 11:44). So is it in the first communication of divine light and life to the soul. The eternal Spirit says, "Let there be light," and in a moment there is light. He speaks again, "Come forth," and in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, the dead are raised."
Hey Donna,
Thanks for the post on the Divine Anointing and Calling of God. Many in the world today think that the term "light" means 'the light of day', but it doesn't, it is in relation to man's perspectives of philosophy, aka the wisdom of man. Keeping in mind that everything is predestined, and that all understanding has to be filtered through the Ineffible Being, Who is Omniscient, Omnipotent, and Omnipresent, it must be seen that all which the Lord instructs in regarding fallen men, is in relation to His eternal foreknowledge of what would occur in time. In time the Father foreknew and forordained that men call wisdom "light". God's wisdom, however, which is not to be compared with man's fractured illusions of time, is true Wisdom, TRUE LIGHT, because it encompasses all of eternity.
God is not limited, first of all, as this man is claiming, to always working "as sudden and instantaneous as was the creation of natural light."
Now, before you go and try and rehabilitate what is stated, and posted, please note the language:
"But the first communication of divine light and life to the soul is sudden, as sudden and instantaneous as was the creation of natural light"
"But the first communication..is sudden!"
WRONG!
The Father is always at work in a chid's life, even before time began. And then in time when that child is born, angels are assigned to "keep him/her in all threir ways".
From the moment you were born, you have been on a path which communicated light/wisdom to you, although you did not see it nor understand it. The Father has been leading you ever so slowly, ever so wisely, through the sum of time, to bring you to this exact moment in time.
The awareness of His glorious eternal operations, may appear at first, as BRILLIANT LIGHT, blinding the mind and senses, but that revelation of His involvement in one's life, was certainly based on everything which preceeded it.
Yes, I am aware that the writer would later, amend his position, which was first postulated, saying:
"Beware of imagining that you can confine the Holy Spirit to a certain prescribed order in this or any other part of his work. He is sovereign; therefore he works according to his own will. We would not say that all conversion is a sudden work."
Why does he at first state one thing, and then contradict himself? This is not an excellent demonstration of eternal wisdom.
Wisdom and knowledge are predicated, as everything is. This is how the Father teaches, and this is how we are to receive Him, ETERNAL, before us laying a sure foundation, HIM.
"In Him we live and move and have our being!"
This article does not clearly promulgate the knowledge of eternal grace, eternal wisdom, operating in the life of a child.
Grace be unto you, and peace!
May the Father enable you to grasp, of Him, Eternal Wisdom..
"...the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist" (Rom. 4:17).
Posted : 20 Nov, 2011 11:45 AM
Amen awm, i see your point. I agree God was at work from before my life began, but when i came to faith it was sudden. I repented and turned from my life of misery to a life of peace and joy through him. Praise God for his efficacious work.
