In all of our studies of scriptural doctrines, formats and correct methods of doing things, it is very important for us to remember that the Third Person of the God-head is not a doctrine or a teaching, but a Living and Intelligent Person who makes His decisions based on what is necessary to fulfill God’s will in the salvation of men. The loud cry of Revelation chapter 14, represents God’s last great effort to save as many as would be saved, and with this mandate in mind, The Holy Spirit will do whatsoever it takes to maximize the sacred investment in human beings, made at the Cross through Jesus Christ.
This is what motivates The Third Person of The God-Head and therefore whatsoever He deems necessary to have this mission accomplished, that He will do, whether we are prepared to understand His working or not. It is therefore of critical importance for us to study closely,
His manner of doing things, especially as it pertains to the last great outpouring of the latter rain, for we need to be in line with His methods, which are not governed by set guidelines in some manual somewhere, but are rather based on the Intelligence of the moment, and nothing else.
After the outpouring of the early rain on the day of Pentecost, certain developments began to take place within the newly formed body of believers, and these issues should be of grave concern to any student of the Bible who follows the movements of The Holy Ghost. A disturbance arose which threatened the new church with division over the doctrine of circumcision, which was given as a command directly by God to His people, the Hebrews, and to any male who desired to be affiliated with the covenant relationship with God.
The stipulation to be circumcised was given with such clarity and sternness that a violation of the rite was deemed serious enough to carry the death penalty, and
as such was regarded as most sacred by the Hebrew people. The injunction included all male Jews, and any male gentile stranger that was home born, or birthed outside of the Hebrew economy, for it made no difference and absolutely no exceptions, to any male who desired a covenant relationship with God. Let’s read:
Genesis 17:9 And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations.
17:10 This [is] my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised.
17:11 And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you.
17:12 And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which [is] not of thy seed.
17:13 He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised: and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.
17:14 And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant.
That there may be no misgivings as to the seriousness of this rite, God made it known in no uncertain terms, what He meant when He says “That soul shall be cut off” who has broken my covenant. When Moses avoided the rite of circumcision on his son, the angel of God appeared to him with a sword drawn in his hand and threatened to slay him, who then realized the gravity of what he had done, and then his wife made haste to fulfill that which was due.
The rite of circumcision was so serious that even John the Baptist who was preloaded with The Holy Ghost before he was born, had to have the procedure completed on the eighth day, just as it took place with all Hebrew males hundreds of years before, for nothing had changed. And even Jesus, who was also filled with The Holy Ghost before he was born, had to have the rite of circumcision administered, just as stipulated when God first introduced it to Abraham. Let’s read:
Luke 1:11 And there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense.
1:13 But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John.
1:15 For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb.
1:41 And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost:
1:42 And she spake out with a loud voice, and said,
Blessed [art] thou among women, and blessed [is] the
fruit of thy womb.
1:43 And whence [is] this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
1:44 For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for
joy.
1:57 Now Elisabeth's full time came that she should be delivered; and she brought forth a son.
1:59 And it came to pass, that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child”…
Luke 2:21 And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called JESUS, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb.
Now, after the outpouring of The Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost, Peter was instructed by God to start baptizing the gentiles without administering the rite of circumcision, and this instruction was given to Peter privately, long before the greater body of believers had come together to discuss the matter, and had come to a general decision on such an important issue.
What is worthy of note is that Saul, who later became Paul, was actively hunting down Christians, and bringing them to be slaughtered, when Jesus met him on the road to Damascus, gave him a new charge, and sent him away into the deserts of Arabia where he received specific instructions from God, which also included the removal of the rite of circumcision as a prerequisite when baptizing the gentiles, and this revelation took place privately between Christ and Paul, before the church body gets wind of what was taking place.
This movement by The Holy Ghost should disturb any serious student of the Bible, for it shows that He is willing and able to operate outside the boundaries of human expectations, which may be based on very real scriptural stipulations, for in the final analysis, The third Person of The God-head, is not a doctrine or a belief, but rather an intelligent Person who is vested with singular authority to correctly interpret the scriptures which were written under His direct inspiration. In other words, what He was saying to Peter, Paul, and the other Jewish converts, is that whatever might have been their interpretation of scriptural guidelines, the buck stops with The Holy Ghost, and He will indeed have the last word. Let’s read:
Acts 10:9 On the morrow, as they went on their journey, and drew nigh unto the city, Peter went up upon the housetop to pray about the sixth hour:
10:10 And he became very hungry, and would have eaten: but while they made ready, he fell into a trance,
10:11 And saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending unto him, as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners, and let down to the earth:
10:12 Wherein were all manner of fourfooted beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air.
10:13 And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat.
10:14 But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean.
10:15 And the voice [spake] unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, [that] call not thou common.
10:16 This was done thrice: and the vessel was received up again into heaven.
10:17 Now while Peter doubted in himself what this vision which he had seen should mean, behold, the men which were sent from Cornelius had made inquiry for Simon's house, and stood before the gate,
10:19 While Peter thought on the vision, the Spirit said unto him, Behold, three men seek thee.
10:20 Arise therefore, and get thee down, and go with them, doubting nothing: for I have sent them.
10:24 And the morrow after they entered into Caesarea. And Cornelius waited for them, and had called together his kinsmen and near friends.
10:27 And as he talked with him, he went in, and found many that were come together.
10:28 And he said unto them, Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company, or come unto one of another nation; but God hath showed me that I should not call any man common or unclean.
10:29 Therefore came I [unto you] without gainsaying, as soon as I was sent for: I ask therefore for what intent ye have sent for me?
The very same thing The Holy Ghost cautioned Peter about is the very same issue he raises in his first words to Cornelius, and the large gathering of friends and family, who were ready to be baptized, even though Peter had not yet understood the full import of The Spirit’s words, “What God hath cleansed” and so he proceeds with the church format that he has studied for years, and begins preaching. Now The Intelligent Third Person of The God head is standing by waiting, but He cannot wait forever for Peter and his fellows to get it, so He moves ahead and does what He would not normally do under different circumstances, and He falls upon Cornelius and the entire assembly and they begin to speak in tongues. Note the next few verses of scripture, for they sound alarm bells down to our generation. Let’s read:
Acts 10:44 While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word.
10:45 And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost.
10:46 For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God.
The obvious reason for their astonishment is that the rite of circumcision which had formerly carried the death penalty for violation was now done away with, and what is even more disturbing is that there is not one single verse or prophecy in the old Testament which says implicitly that it would be done away with, especially since both Jesus and John the Baptist were circumcised. And so, Peter and Paul start baptizing the gentiles into the newly formed Christian church, long before the general assembly of believers hear of any such tectonic change, a very disturbing occurrence indeed. Let’s read:
Acts 15:1 And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, [and said], Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved.
15:2 When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them, should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question.
15:3 And being brought on their way by the church, they passed through Phenice and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles: and they caused great joy unto all the brethren.
15:4 And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church, and [of] the apostles and elders, and they declared all things that God had done with them.
15:5 But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying, That it was needful to circumcise them, and to command [them] to keep the law of Moses.
15:6 And the apostles and elders came together for to consider of this matter.
15:7 And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men [and] brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe.
15:8 And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as [he did] unto us;
The reason why there was much argument is because Peter and Paul were doing that for which in the minds of the church leaders, they had no scriptural authority, but when the argument gets really heated, James then remembers that there is actually a scriptural basis for the movements of The Holy Ghost, and he now quotes the scripture which is brought to his mind by the Intelligent Third Person of The God-Head. Let’s read:
Acts 15:15 And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written,
15:16 After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up:
15:17 That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things.
Now there is nothing in these verses which explicitly state that the rite of circumcision as a prerequisite will be abolished, and since The Holy Ghost is always right, then it behooves every serious student of the Bible to take note and understand the grave import of what had taken place. This must be done in the context of the verdict given, which includes the supreme intelligence of The Spirit of God, which trumps all other interpretations and ideas of scriptural formats, even those that are held dear to us for many years. Let’s read:
Acts 15:28 For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things;
15:29 That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well.
And that’s the end of the story folks, with The Intelligent Third Person of The God-Head having the last and final word on the matter. Last week there was intense debate about the ordination of women in various capacities, which indeed has caused much back and forth between those who agree and those who differ. Whilst we are not going to belabor that scriptural teaching, yet it is very important for us to make allowance for the intelligence of The Holy Ghost, who as clearly shown, is willing and able to operate outside the box of what we have
believed and followed diligently for many, many years.
In response to the valid concerns raised last week by sincere believers, we went into prayer concerning the matter, and the answer from God consists of two simple words, be careful, be very careful. Furthermore, because statements coming from the servant of the Lord were cited by some, we are instructed to do what we would not normally do, for God in His wisdom has led us to take all of our references from the scriptures alone. But for the benefit of our online listeners and friends, some of whom are living in war torn countries, where it is quite dangerous to be called a Christian, we will now put up on the screen, pertinent statements from the servant of The Lord, which directly address the second outpouring of The Holy Ghost in the last days of earth’s history, which is better known as the latter rain. Let’s read:
Laborers Qualified by the Holy Spirit
In the last solemn work few great men will be engaged. .. God will work a work in our day that but few
anticipate. He will raise up and exalt among us those who are taught rather by the unction of His Spirit than by the outward training of scientific institutions. These facilities are not to be despised or condemned; they are ordained of God, but they can furnish only the exterior qualifications. God will manifest that He is not dependent on learned, self-important mortals.--5T 80, 82 (1882). {LDE 204.3}
Children are impelled by the Spirit to go forth and declare the message from heaven. The Spirit is poured out upon all who will yield to its promptings and, casting off all man's machinery, his binding rules and cautious methods, they will declare the truth with the might of the Spirit's power.--Ev 700 (1895). {LDE 206.2}
When the heavenly intelligences see that men will no longer present the truth in simplicity as did Jesus, the very children will be moved upon by the Spirit of
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God and will go forth proclaiming the truth for this time.--SW 66 (1895).
To souls that are earnestly seeking for light and that accept with gladness every ray of divine illumination from His holy Word, to such alone light will be given. It is through these souls that God will reveal that light and power which will lighten the whole earth with His glory.--5T 729 (1889). {LDE 205.1}
There is to be in the [Seventh-day Adventist] churches a wonderful manifestation of the power of God, but it will not move upon those who have not humbled themselves before the Lord, and opened the door of the heart by confession and repentance. In the
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manifestation of that power which lightens the earth with the glory of God, they will see only something which in their blindness they think dangerous, something which will arouse their fears, and they will brace themselves to resist it. Because the Lord does not work according to their ideas and expectations they will oppose the work. "Why," they say, "should we not know the Spirit of God, when we have been in the work so many years?"--RH
Extra, Dec. 23, 1890. {LDE 209.3}
And the last caution we will end with, addresses the various valid concerns that we may have, and directs us to study very carefully, the movements of The Spirit of God on the day of Pentecost and thereafter, so that we too may be instructed and prepared for the last great outpouring of the latter rain. Let’s read:
Let those who desire to be refreshed in mind and instructed in the truth study the history of the early church during and immediately following the Day of Pentecost. Study carefully in the book of Acts the experiences of Paul and the other apostles, for God's people in our day must pass through similar experiences.--PC 118 (1907). {LDE 148.1}
May God add His blessing to the study of His word!