The Lord's Host

A few thoughts on Christian Position, Conflict, Hope.

F. G. Patterson.

"Art thou for us, or for our adversaries? And he said, Nay; but as the Captain of the Host of the Lord am I now come." Joshua 5:13-14.

Preface to Second Edition (revised).

The writer desires to commit the Second Edition of this little work to the grace of the Lord Jesus; praying for His blessing on all therein which may be found agreeable to His own blessed Word.

Islandderry, Dromore (Co Down), May, 1877.

Contents

Part 1.

Chapter 1. The Purposes of God, and the State of the People.

Chapter 2. Judgment Announced and the Way of Escape: the Bunch of Hyssop.

Chapter 3. The Seal of the Holy Spirit on the Forgiveness of Sins.

Chapter 4. Redemption.

Chapter 5. Praise: the Song of Grace and Glory.

Chapter 6. Heavenly Places.

Chapter 7. Canaan First; then the Lessons of the Wilderness.

Chapter 8. "Gilgal": the Stones of Memorial in the Jordan and at Gilgal.

Part 2.

Chapter 9. "Gilgal": Circumcision, Positional and Practical.

Chapter 10. "Gilgal": the Passover on the Plains of Jericho.

Chapter 11. "Gilgal" "the Old Corn of the Land.".

Chapter 12. "Gilgal": the Captain of the Host.

Chapter 13. Condition of Soul to Face the Foe: the Loins Girded with the Truth.

Chapter 14. Condition of Soul: the Breastplate of Righteousness.

Chapter 15. Condition of Soul: Feet Shod with the Preparation of the Gospel of Peace.

Chapter 16. Condition of Soul: the Shield of Faith.

Chapter 17. Condition of Soul: the Helmet of Salvation: and the Sword of the Spirit.

Chapter 18. Condition of Soul: Prayer.

Chapter 19. "Good Success" in our Spiritual Warfare.

Part 3.

Chapter 20. Realization: the Seven Trumpets of Rams' Horns.

Chapter 21. Unity of Action; Diversity of Operation: Joshua's Spear.

Chapter 22. "The Last Trump:" Conclusion.

Introductory Remarks.

The Lord's Host, as of old with an earthly people, may fitly be used to distinguish those — now a spiritual people, whom He has redeemed. He has in His mighty love delivered them from the "world," the "flesh," and the "devil," through the redemption which He has wrought; putting them in full acceptance before God; an acceptance known and enjoyed by faith. This is the common lot of all who are His — of every child of God. "When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men" (Eph. 4:8). He first went down into the condition into which sin had brought man; into the "lower parts of the earth," broke asunder the last stronghold of the enemy; led captive those who were captives to Satan, and so perfectly and completely delivered them, that He can now use them against the enemy as instruments of His power.

Now, not only has He given us, by the calling of His grace, to be "holy and without blame before him in love;" but He has also seated us "in heavenly places in Christ Jesus" as to our present place before Him. Nor is this enough. It is not sufficient that we should possess these, our blessings, and our place by faith; He would also have us to realize consciously the wealth of our portion in Him.

Of what use would be all the riches of India, even to one who possessed it by an unchallengeable title, if he did not realize his possessions, so as to use and enjoy them? So with the things of Christ — "Our own things." We may be assured of it that they offer a wondrous field for diligence of heart, to realize and enjoy them, and to put others into possession of them also. But we may also be assured that this required purpose of heart, with a right condition of soul, and self-denial and devotedness: faithfulness, too, with that which is "another man's," that God may entrust us with the "true riches" (Luke 16:11-12).

There is a wide difference between being, in the abstract, possessors of these heavenly riches, and the active realization and enjoyment of them, as of our place in union with Christ.

We shall hope, if the Lord will, to examine these things in detail; as also the activities of those who have entered upon their heavenly warfare — let us add — with diligent hearts; and we will then endeavour to exhort one another while it is called today, and encourage one another, or be encouraged, as the Lord may distribute to each of us in His own wise way.

We will divide our meditations, therefore, into three larger divisions, viz: —

1. The heavenly place, in Christ Jesus, which is ours as the people of God, through the redemption that is in Him.

2. Being there — the condition of soul which is needed, that we may realize our "own things." This will embrace three special phases: 1. The practical dealing with flesh and self consequent on our place in Him. 2. The condition of soul needed to meet the enemy. 3. How the presence of the Lord is ensured, and "good success" in our spiritual warfare. And,

3. The realization of our heavenly inheritance and the deliverance of others — in short, the activities of "the Lord's Host" under the leadership of a heavenly Christ.

The striking analogy between the Book of Joshua and the Epistle to the Ephesians and Colossians has been a fruitful theme of meditation and instruction at times amongst the Lord's people, even when the analogy has been but faintly seen. Our meditations will be based chiefly upon these Scriptures which offer such a rich field for the study of those who are His. "Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope" (Rom. 15:4); and "All these things happened unto them (Israel) for ensamples; and they are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come" (1 Cor. 10:11). Not only, then, have we the immense field of the "Law of Moses, and the prophets, and the Psalms," for our learning, patience, and comfort but we have in a special way, the "things" which happened unto Israel, under the specific dealings of the Lord, presented to us as warnings and encouragements by the way.

May He bless His people, and stir up their hearts' energies in the way that He can own and bless, for His name's sake! May we not only have divine sensibilities as to the truth, and to the blessedness of these things which pertain to Christ but may we have the divine energies also in seeking His face, that we may know and enjoy the things that are freely given to us of God!

Chapter 1.

The Purposes of God, and the State of the People.

In the early chapters of the Book of Exodus we have a vivid illustration of the state of God's people as sinners, before redemption. They are in Egypt, a company of slaves and idolaters. Egypt gives us, in type, the world in its state of nature, fallen and under Satan's power. They were there in conscious misery, though apparently without any thought but present ease from the bondage under which they groaned. The "iron furnace of Egypt," with the lash of its taskmasters, and the clank of the chains of its slavery was felt, but God was unknown! Even when their cry "by reason of the bondage" was heard, it was not a cry to God. It reached His ears doubtless, for all things are naked and open before Him; His ear is never heavy, so that the groans of this scene do not reach Him. The poor prodigal (Luke 15) had got to the end of his means in the land of his slavery, but that did not bring him to his father, nor even "to himself;" nor did his heart cry to God for deliverance. To supply the want from which he suffered, he goes further away from God than ever. His will brought him away from his home at the first; his need took him further off still; his complete misery gave occasion for the display of his father's fullest grace!

So with a sinner. You will see one wasting health, talents, and energies, in the pursuit of some bubble which long eludes his grasp; when reached at last, it vanishes from his sight and affords no satisfaction to his craving heart. Then the prodigal goes further, and joins himself to a citizen of that country, but he finds the reality of the principles of that land — it never gives. Ask a man of the world to look back upon his life and tell you, when he was wasting his energies, and appearing so rich and happy, did it satisfy him? He will honestly answer you, No! His want never brought him to God; it carried him further away even than his will; and he barters for the husks his all! It is in a certain sense a mercy to find a soul at this extremity, for in the extremity of misery there is no hindrance to the grace of God, which an "elder son" refused.

"And God heard their groaning" (Ex. 2:14); and God came down to deliver them. He is not merely love, but He is active in His love. "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son." "The Son of man came to seek and to save that which was lost." But "God is a consuming fire." How then can He act in love, and have to do with sinners without consuming them? This is beautifully hinted at in Ex. 3, where the angel of the Lord appeared to Moses "in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush." The bush burned, but was not consumed. Strange anomaly! "And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt!" This was the wonder. If God had revealed Himself in the character of One whose burning holiness must consume all contrary to itself, who might abide? But He came down and revealed Himself in lowly grace in Jesus. He veiled His glory in that lowly Man. Still "he could not be hid." As the sun in piercing through the cloud proves the intensity of his beams by the light and heat which they convey, so Jesus in His lowly path of service and toil, sent forth His beams of love and light to enter the hearts of those whose need had penetrated His. He came down in grace to seek in a poor lost world for those who would trust His love, before the day of judgment. Thus God, who is a consuming fire, was not consuming, because He was revealing Himself in grace, but in a grace which reigns through righteousness.

He now announces His purpose to Moses: "I am come down to deliver them out of the hands of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land into a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey." Not a word is said of the wilderness, and its forty years of endurance and toil. His plan was to test them there, which He did; but His purpose was to bring them to the place where He could dwell, to a land that "drinketh water of the rain of heaven. A land which the Lord thy God careth for: the eyes of the Lord thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year" (Deut. 11). He would bring us into a place where His own heart can be satisfied, and where He may dwell with and enjoy His people. How different from the land of slavery where nothing is to be had for nothing, where no man gives! "For the land, whither thou goest in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs" (Deut. 11).

God has redeemed us for heaven and for His own glory to Christ. He has not redeemed us for this world at all, though He tries and tests our hearts here, and teaches us to test and trust His. So He announces His purpose to Moses, and says not a word of the wilderness.

Now when Moses came to announce God's purpose to redeem His people, Satan began at once to bestir himself. As long as the strong man armed kept his palace, his goods were in peace, but when a stronger than he appears, all is changed. Burdens are increased, and the tasks more severe. Bricks are to be made without straw. The quiet service of Satan, where all are asleep under his power, gliding down the stream, is easy indeed, compared with the moment when God begins to work. The deathfulness of a previous state is even preferred to the pressure of the enemy. The chains which had been noiseless and unfelt are now heavy, and their clank is heard. How many and how varied are the fetters with which Satan binds his victims! And these chains are the saddest of all which are noiseless, and therefore unfelt and unheard.

Cain's chain was envy. He could not bear to see one who had not toiled like himself accepted without an effort, as Abel was. Balaam's was the "wages of unrighteousness" which bound his soul in its fetters. He would gladly have died the "death of the righteous," but to break the fetters he so well loved, and to live the life of the righteous, he could not bear, and he was a lost man.

With Herod, it was his lust which bound his soul. In him we see the signs of deep workings of the natural conscience, so much so that "he feared John, knowing that he was a just man and an holy, and observed him; and when he heard him, he did many things, and heard him gladly" (Mark 6). He seemed for a time to be an altered man. But the chain that bound his soul with noiseless power was too powerful for him to break, and to please a courtesan he beheaded John. How deeply solemn!

We might mention other cases in Scripture of this kind. Judas loved money; avarice was the noiseless chain, and it ate away his heart; no eye but the Lord's could see it. He grasped it more tightly, till the "son of perdition" "went to his own place." With the amiable young ruler, it was his possessions which bound his heart unconsciously to the scene, till Jesus put His finger on the chain, and "he went away grieved, for he had great possessions." With Gallio it was the careless indifference which we see in so many; "He cared for none of those things." With Felix it was procrastination. He trembled at Paul "reasoning of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come," but put off repentance to a convenient season, which, alas! never came. With Saul of Tarsus, it was his robe of self-righteousness. Cleaving so closely to the heart, these chains are unfelt till the Lord interferes in mercy; then all is changed. Satan's bondage begins to be felt as it never was before, and all his energies are then put forth to frustrate the purpose of the Lord in delivering grace. Alas! we find that the people whom He has come to deliver now murmur. But we cannot wonder at this, as all was comparatively well with them in that service with which Satan had made them satisfied. But when the chains are touched they complain.

I desire to address the conscience of my reader as I pass on. Is there some noiseless chain, silently but surely woven round your heart, and, alas! it may be, unknown to you! Perhaps it has been touched now and then by the Lord, and the clank heard for a moment in your conscience; still yet you are unbound. It may be a chain which you know yourself — the Lord and conscience have made you aware of it — and still it is there. Some secret sin — something cherished and allowed in your heart and ways — unseen by the eye of others, there it rusts, and cleaves to you. Be warned, and look to Him who has pointed it out; be assured that as surely as His unerring eye has seen it, so surely can He snap the fetters that bind your heart; they will be like "the cords that were upon (Samson's) arms" — they will become "as flax that was burnt with fire."

Do not allow the terrible chain of procrastination to bind your soul till that "convenient season" which never comes; but be warned, and flee to Him (be you saint or sinner), and in His presence He will prove the truth of His words — "If the Son, therefore, shall make you free, you shall be free indeed" (John 8.)

Judgment Announced and the Way of Escape: the Bunch of Hyssop.

I pass over all the signs and wonders wrought in the land of Ham; and also over the compromises proposed by the enemy under the pressure of God's hand, until the moment when the final message was sent by Moses to Pharaoh. This we find in the eleventh chapter of Exodus.

And here I note the marked and striking analogy between this, and the Lord's present dealings of grace. With the message of the fullest and richest grace of the Gospel, comes the most solemn and final revelation of a judgment to come — as final as it is solemn and searching to the soul. No threat — no language of denunciation or declamation; but the terribly calm, clear statement of the utter ruin, after every trial and test, of man's estate; of the sure and certain perdition and eternal ruin of every soul with whom God will enter into judgment, according to his works. The truth has come and disclosed all: it has shown what God is, what man is, what Satan is, what the world is, what judgment is — all things are laid bare. He does not threaten; but has revealed judgment to come as the solemn result of grace despised.

"And Moses said, Thus saith the Lord, About midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt." When all were asleep and apparently secure, the judgment would fall: "And there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there was none like it, nor shall be like it any more." A cry when the blow had fallen. Signs and wonders had produced no contrition of heart: Pharaoh had hardened himself still more. Threatenings of judgment were of no avail. The plan of deliverance was unfolded by Him who knew His own requirements, and who was about to enter upon the scene as a relentless, righteous Judge. The _supper__-__time_ was the time to hear and to act; when the midnight came the blow had fallen, and then it was too late. The procrastinator might plead how well he understood the plan of deliverance; but he had folded his arms and judgment had overtaken him. He might cry, "Lord, Lord, open!" but the door of mercy had closed for ever!

If we examine the parable of the Great Supper in Luke 14, we find that it was not those who were living in open sin who refused this final call of grace. I say final, because you will note that the Gospel Feast is set forth as the final meal of the day of God's dealings with men. The Lord was at dinner in the house of this Pharisee at the time. The supper is the last meal of the day before midnight comes. This is very significant and striking. The gospel comes after all God's previous ways of testing and trial have passed.

The morning of innocence, with its lovely moments of freshness, when God came down to visit His creatures, when His creation was unsoiled with sin, soon passed away and man fell, never to return to this state of creature blessedness.

Then came His _noon__-__day_ dealings with man, now with a conscience obtained when he fell. During their continuance came the frightful wickedness of men and angels, the earth was filled with corruption and violence; and God had to wash the polluted earth with the mighty baptism of the flood. Then men set up the devil for God in the renewed earth, and the whole world was worshipping him, in the passions and corruptions of their evil hearts.

The afternoon testing of the Law followed. It told man what his duty was, both positively and negatively — its "Thou shalt," and "Thou shalt not," taught him what he ought to be. But it never disclosed what he was, utterly and hopelessly ruined. Nor did it tell him what God was, with a heart full of tender pity and perfect love. Then the prophets were sent to recall him to its observance lest judgment should overtake him, and these they stoned.

It was in the averting that at last God revealed Himself in Christ. Would man now be won? Alas, no! Not one single heart was attracted to Christ of itself. They saw no beauty in Him that they should desire Him. It was a lovely evening, after a day of storm and evil, which was ushered in so brightly; but how soon to close in around the darkness of the cross, where men quenched (as far as they could) the light of heaven.

God had another moment of mercy. The supper-time of the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, with the message that "All things are now ready;" "Come," for the midnight of judgment was about to fall. But "all with one consent began to make excuse." Men who were not living in sin, but who were doing lawful and right things — attending to the farm, the merchandise, or their family affairs — even they also refused the gift of God.

I know nothing more solemn than the fact that when the Lord lifts the veil and points to the awful judgment of a future scene, in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16), we learn there the compelled remembrance (the deathless sting of remorse) of times gone by and advantages lost for ever, in this present day of grace. How dreadful then for the professor, the procrastinator, the careless man. "Son, remember!" tells its own tale more truly than the many words which might be used to paint the scene. But it is not my present task to dwell on this side of the picture; I desire rather to unfold in some measure the certain way of escape from this judgment to come. The one is as certain as the other.

God had a serious question with Israel on the night of the passover. They were sinners, and sin had constituted Him a Judge. He had come down to deliver them and to bring them to the land. He appoints a way in which he can righteously pass over them as sinners when judging the world. The blood of a spotless lamb was to be taken, and placed upon the two side posts and lintel of the doors of their houses, which were to be closed, and none of the people were to leave their houses until the morning.

I did not purpose dwelling lengthily on this well-known scene, which has been such a fruitful theme to others. But I would press a few points which may not have been fully noticed. In the evening the lamb was to be slain, and its blood sprinkled by the believing Israelite in the "obedience of faith." This was done by means of a "bunch of hyssop." Now this points to a most significant and important thought in connection with the gospel. Many know the plan of salvation, as it is termed; they are as clear as possible as to the truth that salvation is by faith alone, and that the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, and it only, is that by which security from coming judgment depends. They know well those words, that "without shedding of blood is no remission"; yet they never have had, so to speak, the Bunch of Hyssop in their hands, though this illustrates the real link between their souls and their acceptance of the gospel. This is the point concerning which so many are ignorant. A Bunch of Hyssop is used in Scripture on two occasions. (I do not now refer to its typical import in the offerings: see Lev. 14, On one occasion it is used by an Israelite with blood (Ex. 12). On the other it is used in the hand of a clean person, for an Israelite, with water (Num. 19). In both cases it signifies humiliation. The Psalmist refers to it in this way in Psalm 51:7, where he cries, "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean." This was the moral cleansing of his soul by complete humiliation.

An Israelite who believed Moses concerning the plan of deliverance on that "night to be remembered," did not fold his arms quietly, as many, and do nothing. No; he was up and doing, in "the obedience of faith" (Rom. 1:5; Rom. 16:26). "Believing in his heart" the glad tidings by Moses, he was seen outside the door of his house, before the world "confessing with his mouth" the acceptance of this message, and thus appropriating his personal share in the efficacy of the blood of the lamb. It was truly humiliating for him to go outside before a world of idolaters, into whose sins he had sunk (Ezek. 20:6-8), and confess that, although he was one of God's chosen people, he could claim no immunity from judgment but by the shelter of the blood of the lamb. He thus justified God and condemned himself. It was humiliating, but right to do so. "Let God be true, and every man a liar." Here is the link between the soul and Christ, which so many need. The Bunch of Hyssop has never been grasped; the soul has never bowed in the obedience of faith, and in the conscious reality of its state, not only believing the gospel in the heart, but confessing it with the mouth to salvation.

How many are the dealings of God with souls to awaken them to the sense of their need, that His heart may thus be free to pour its love into theirs! How varied are His ways to bring them down to the point of blessing — even the sense of their own ruin in His sight. Once there, there is no hindrance; how simple then becomes the story of His grace "The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved" (Rom. 10:8-9).

The poor thief was there in conscience, when he rebuked his fellow, and said, "We indeed justly." He had the Bunch of Hyssop in his hand at that moment. Not claiming superiority over the railing robber; not excusing himself; but justifying God, and condemning himself; then there was no hindrance to the love of Christ making itself known to bins. He believed in his heart, and he confessed with his mouth, and went to paradise with Jesus that day.

So with the woman of Syrophenicia; "Truth, Lord," confessed the fact that she could claim nothing from Him who was there before her, with His heart full of mercy. "Yet the dogs eat of the crumbs" — told that her heart had penetrated God's, and knew and believed that there was a blessing there even for one who had neither promise, nor right to claim His grace. It was the bowing of the conscience before the Lord in the obedience of faith; and the moment she is there the spring is touched — His heart is free to give the blessing which He had come down to reveal and bestow. "O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt." You cannot think too well of God! Like Jehovah of old wrestling with Jacob until he brought Him to the point where He might bless him, Jesus, as it were, wrestles with her till she has a sense of her true state, and then the blessing comes.

An Israelite on the evening of the Passover, with the bunch of hyssop in his hand, conveys this truth to our souls. The blood he sprinkled was to meet and satisfy the eye of God. It was to present a righteous ground to Him in judgment, for passing over a man whose sins deserved that the blow should descend on him, even more righteously than on his Egyptian neighbour next door.

The midnight of judgment came, but all was settled beforehand, as it must be for us. Our sins cannot be worse in the day of judgment than now. God's way of escape from judgment then will not have changed. It is as certain now as then. His love has anticipated that day in giving His Son. His Son has come, and has presented His blood before God. God has pronounced on our state as sinners already; and the day of judgment cannot speak more plainly than "There is none righteous; no, not one!" Christ has borne our sins and put them away before that day comes, and God has sent the news of His having done so. "He that believeth not is judged already (ede kekritai) because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God" (John 3:18).

But you may say, I know it all. I ask then, Are you forgiven? Are you safe under the shelter of the blood of Christ? I do not ask, Do you hope to be so? I ask, Are you safe? If you believe God, you are. If you believe your own heart, you are deceived: "He that trusteth in his own heart, is a fool" (Prov. 28:26). May you know what it is to have had the Bunch of Hyssop in your hand; your heart confessing that your only security is that God, against whom you have sinned, has looked upon that precious blood of Jesus, that He has accepted it already, and the day of judgment will not change its value, or make it less precious in His sight. In virtue of it He has declared, "I will pass over you." Do you dare to doubt that He has accepted it? You could not, for you know He has. I do not ask, Have you accepted it, but do you believe He has done so? The proof that He has is that Jesus is at God's right hand. "When he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high" (Heb. 1:3). He has by Himself purged the sins, and he who believes has his conscience purged of them. Suppose some one has paid a debt which I owed and could not discharge; well, I cannot be sued for it, but I shall be afraid to meet my creditor. To be happy in his presence, I must know that some one has been kind enough to do it: so God declares that it is done. Then my conscience is free, and I can afford to look now into my heart, which I dare not do before.

The question of all our sins has thus been settled before the day of judgment, and according to God's mind. If not, we never can put them away. Christ cannot die again "death hath no more dominion over him." He "was once offered to bear the sins of many." I say "all our sins;" for all were future when that precious blood was shed — when Jesus bore them in His own body on the tree. If all were not there, if all were not borne and put away, they will most surely come up again at the day of judgment, and that would be eternal ruin. Thank God He has borne ours who believe. Others may reject it and perish, but there the love is, and there is the work of Christ to save all who believe in Him.

The Seal of the Holy Spirit on the Forgiveness of Sins.

On receiving the forgiveness of our sins, there results a most important matter for our souls. I allude to the sealing of the Spirit of God. The sealing of the Spirit takes place at once when we receive this forgiveness — when we believe in Christ. This is quite different from the work of quickening, which makes us see our need of forgiveness. It is the personal indwelling of the Holy Ghost in our bodies. This truth comes out very blessedly in the type of "the things which happened" to Israel. The moment the blood had met God's claims, the pillar of cloud and of fire descended. "And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night: He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people" (Exodus 13:21-22).

It was blessed to be safe from a God of judgment on the night of the passover. But God was outside, and the Israelite was within: there was no communion between them. They could have no thoughts in common with One who was judging. To keep Him outside the house was the thought of that solemn night. But now He comes down at once to take His place amongst the people whom blood has sheltered. Forgiveness was known, but deliverance was not; still the conscience was clear with God, and in virtue of this the cloud descended before they were out of Egypt.

A soul may know no other truth than the simple but blessed fact of the forgiveness of his sins. Never mind; the rest will come! God seals him. While Peter yet spake these words — "To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins" (Acts 10:43) — here were quickened people, needing forgiveness, listening; there was Peter declaring forgiveness in the name of the Lord Jesus, and in virtue of His work — needy hearts accepted the message; it was this they wanted, and at once, as the words entered their hearts, "the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word." No doubt He had been at work in quickening them before Peter's visit. He had created desires and the need of forgiveness which Christ alone could satisfy, but now He comes with the message of forgiveness, and they believe; consequently He takes up His abode in the bodies of those who believed in this message of pardon. This was the gift of the Holy Ghost; quite distinct from the gifts which, to mark His presence in the sight of others, were also seen at that day.

This makes the sealing of the Holy Ghost very plain. So it was understood by Peter, and taught by Paul. Peter tells them in Acts 2:38 that, on the remission of sins, they would receive the Holy Ghost. Paul so teaches in the Epistle to the Romans. The blood of Christ having been shed ( Acts 3:25); and the ungodly sinner having believed on Him that justifieth the ungodly ( Acts 4:5), and who raised up Jesus from the dead, who had been delivered for our offences ( Acts 4:24); "the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts (at once) by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us" ( Acts 5:5). All this is before deliverance is known ( Acts 6, 7) from their state as sinners before God.

Thus, the reception of the Holy Ghost is a positive result on our believing in Christ, for the forgiveness of sins. Much has to be learned doubtless, but the result is plain — the Holy Ghost dwells in us as a consequence, and as a seal; "Having believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise" (Eph. 1:13).

The tenth chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews also shows us this truth. The moment the work of Christ is accomplished, the Holy Ghost is sent that we may know the forgiveness of our sins. "Whereof the Holy Ghost is a witness to us and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more" (Heb. 10:14-17). Here it is not the witness of the Holy Ghost in us, which is spoken of, but that to us. He comes to dwell in the Church, and to tell us not only that Christ had purged our sins before He went on high, but to bring to us the testimony, that we may have our consciences purged, and that God will remember our sins no more! He will not be untrue to His own Word; nor to Him whose precious blood has been shed; nor to His Spirit's testimony to us. Thus we have the (unasked) presence of the Holy Ghost, consequent on the putting away of our sins through the blood-shedding of Christ; as Israel had the cloud and the glory (unsought), consequent on the blood-shedding of the paschal lamb. It was as if God desired to be with His people at once; so the moment He could righteously come down to dwell amongst them, He did so.