“Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.”
(Luke 1:38, NKJV)
The important Scripture of Rom. 14:17 is currently our focus of study: “the kingdom of God is … righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit”. These three foundation stones of the kingdom of God WITHIN US (Luke 17:21) are now being examined, with righteousness as our first point of focus.
In the previous teaching, we reached the exciting conclusion that faith is here presented as equal to “the former rain, and the latter rain”, which is poured out onto this seed of Christ, and in this way, we learn righteousness! The former rain and the latter rain IS the means by which we are taught righteousness!
If the former rain points to the working of the Holy Spirit, then the latter rain points to the seven-fold Spirit of God! Although the seven-fold Spirit already existed from the beginnings, it is possible to, for the first time, function in their full capacity (as well as in the “abundance of … glory” – Isa. 66:11) only after Jesus has received the Spirit of God (Matt. 3:16).
When John the Baptist explains this event, he does it as follows: “And John bore witness, saying, ‘I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’” (John 1:32-33). It is important to realise that the Spirit did not literally remain seated on Jesus like a dove would. John could clearly distinguish the presence of the Spirit in Jesus’s life after the baptism of the Spirit had occurred. Therefore, he notes in the following verse: “And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.”
Earlier we made clear that there are no less than three instances in Scripture where God “has given us the Spirit as a guarantee” (2 Cor. 5:5). [Also see 2 Cor. 1:22 and Eph. 1:14.] With His baptism Jesus did not only receive the Spirit of God, but then already “God (gave) him the fullness of his Spirit” (GNB). The guarantee is the Holy Spirit. The seven-fold Spirit, or the Spirit of Christ (Rom. 9:9) has since been transferred to all believers when they become born-again, but only in seed form. When they become born-again it is only the Holy Spirit that functions in and through the believer. Read John 7:38-39 again: “‘He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” BUT when the baptism in the Spirit eventually occurs in a believer’s life, the fullness of the seven Spirits of God is released within him/her.
When those who have received the Spirit of God through the laying on of hands, in turn lay their hands on others, so that they may also receive the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:17-18), Jesus as “life-giving Spirit” (1 Cor. 15:45) becomes the Dispenser of the seven Spirits of God. It is indeed “He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit” (John 1:33), but also, He who dispenses the Spirit of Christ, the fullness (John 1:16; Eph. 4:10; Col. 1:19; 2:9-10) to us, which we acquire when we are baptised/torn into the Body of Jesus (the veil – Heb. 10:20; Eph. 1:22-23).
Back to John 3:34 – Jesus as prototype son is sent by God; God gives Him the fullness of the Spirit, which is to say He gives Him the complete seven-fold Spirit; and thus He manifests the rhema-word identities of God. [The fact that the rhema-words are specifically spoken is of great importance here. Remember that rhema, in its etymological root, actually means “small utterance” (read the teaching of Day 1343-1345 again).] If in John 6:63 Jesus then notes that, “The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life,” the “spirit” qualities thereof are nestled within the Spirit of God, and the “life” qualities in the Spirit of Christ.
A very beautiful example of this is found in Luke 2:25-26: “And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the Consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.”
Read this again: the “Lord’s Christ” is seen; and it is revealed by the Holy Spirit! Once someone has received the Holy Spirit as guarantee, and thus also the fullness of the Spirit of Christ still in seed form, an unfolding process of enlightenment/revelation must take place before the believer will be able to access it. Through the love of Christ, we are fulfilled “to all the fullness of God” (Eph. 3:19). The Greek word for revelation here is not the well-known apokalupsis, but instead the word chrēmatizō. This has a wider application in the secular world (for instance, “in trade and money affairs”, thus it is also concerned with the enterprise of your calling), but according to Thayer it also means: “to give a response to those consulting an oracle, to give a divine command or admonition, to teach from heaven; to be divinely commanded, admonished, instructed; to be the mouthpiece of divine revelations, to promulgate the commands of God; to receive a name or title, be called.” All of this is manifested in and through a person’s rhema-word!
The Complete WordStudy Dictionary offers the following synonyms for this word: kaléō (to call); onomázō (to name); eponomázō (to surname); apokalúptō (to unveil, reveal)! We can consider these four actions as the generative power in each rhema-word, “all the words of the Lord which He had spoken to him” (Jer. 36:4). Within your rhema-word is thus found:
- kaléō: your calling and purpose;
- onomázō: your spiritual name(s);
- eponomázō: other facets of your spiritual identity, for instance the spiritual tribe to which you belong, the gifts of God and of Christ that you have received; and
- apokalúptō: your individual apokalupsis-path that God walks with you through the enlightened eyes of the understanding, so that you can know what the hope of his calling, and the riches of the glory of his inheritance among the saints, is for you (Eph. 1:18). [We will return to this shortly, for some further discussion.]
In Luke 2:35 Simeon prophesies to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and says the following: “(yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed”. Most Biblical commentators consider this a negative statement, made in terms of the sorrow Mary will experience about what happens to Jesus. The Life Application Study Bible suggests that, “As Jesus’ mother, Mary would be grieved by the widespread rejection he would face. This is the first note of sorrow in Luke’s Gospel.” And Baker’s New Testament Commentary notes: “In a parenthesis Simeon, in addressing Mary, states that a sword would pierce her soul; in fact, as the original indicates, a large and broad sword, the symbol of intense pain, of frightful and piercing anguish.” This deep, emotional wound that Mary receives plays a big part in the fact that she is honoured in the Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox Churches. It is vocalised in the well-known English hymn:
“At the cross her station keeping
Stood the mournful mother weeping,
Close to Jesus to the last;
Through her heart, his sorrow sharing,
All his bitter anguish bearing,
Now at length the sword had passed.”
It’s easy to understand how this verse can be used (or rather, abused) to wrongfully grant a position of honour to Mary – the mother of God – as she is also wrongfully known. Obviously, her willingness to become pregnant with the Saviour of the world, under clandestine circumstances in particular, is a remarkable sacrifice. What people however do not realise about this remarkable woman, is her specific reaction when the angel Gabriel shares God’s plan with her. The angel proclaims: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.” (Luke 1:35). To this she answers in verse 38: “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your [rhema] word.”
Mary declares her willingness to accept God’s sovereign will for the calling and identity He has planned for her. The KJV states it simply, but accurately: “Be it unto me according to thy word.” The NLT presents it as: “I am the Lord’s servant, and I am willing to accept whatever he wants.”
In the teaching of Day 1346-1348 we explained that the symbolic sword of Eph. 6:17 is “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God”. Here the word word is rhema! To thus return to the prophetic word of Simeon to Mary in Luke 2:35 – when he speaks of “yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul also”, then he is speaking of a particular emotional suffering that lies ahead of her, but it is also much, much more than this. In the statement that follows it becomes clear that it cannot just point to that suffering. The sword that pierces her soul is also the Logos-identity of her Son who inaugurates a new living way through her, as Heb. 4:12 makes clear: “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow …” But it is also Mary’s rhema-word which will mark her in the world as WONDROUS SIGN (Zech. 3:8). Her testimony of the suffering of her Son is also a triumphant history of incarnation, of how God become flesh and lived amongst us. 1 Tim. 3:16 calls this “the mystery of godliness”, and the first consummation of it is that God is revealed in the flesh. Mary is the witness to this wondrous sign. Her testimony was – as all wondrous signs are – not for the sake of her personal calling or purpose. The last section of Luke 2:35 points to the fact that it also effects corporate synergy: “that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed”. If one is confronted by the reality of the incarnation it has to touch you very deeply, and you must be able to make a decision, which will often reveal the secret purposes of your heart. Ecc. 3:11 (AMP): “He also has planted eternity in men’s hearts and minds [a divinely implanted sense of a purpose working through the ages which nothing under the sun but God alone can satisfy] …”
- Selah: Do you have ‘a divinely implanted sense of a purpose”?
- Read: 5-13
- Memorise: 12:10
