Careless words needlessly get us and others into difficulties and cause trouble which we could choose to avoid if only we exercised more self control in what we say.
Now, in the New Covenant Age, God provides each of us who have been adopted into His family with a new and pure form of communicating when we use our tongue to speak to Him.
Matthew 6: 9; ''After this manner therefore pray ye: Our father which art in heaven, Hallowed by thy name.''
The word for ''father'' is taken from the Aramaic word 'Abba' and is used to denote a one to one father/son or daughter relationship and convey the notion of the closeness of a relationship that a devoted, caring father would have for his children.
But why can we speak to our God in this, what at first appears to be an over familiar, wholly irreverent address?
Romans 8: 15, 16 & 17a; ''For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ;''
''The Spirit of adoption'', the Holy Spirit gives the believer a status in God's family as an (adopted) son/daughter. ''Abba'' (Aramaic) again used here to denote the intimate name used only by members of the family. ''Joint-heirs with Christ'' conveys the promise that we as members of God's Spirit filled family of believers shall all share in our inheritance together.
This Spirit of adoption is really very, very important; for me it is the crux of the status of our relationship with God in the New Covenant Age going forward:
Romans 8: 2, 8, 9, 10, 11; ''For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. So they then that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised Christ up from the dead shall also quicken [give life to] your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.''
"...he is none of his" suggests that any who lack the Spirit are not part of God's family. ''Quicken your mortal bodies'' means that members of God's family will receive a new physical form by the in filling (''dwelleth in you'') of the Holy Spirit in order to be able to overcome death, just like Jesus.
But why is the infilling of the Holy Spirit so necessary to ''quicken'' - that is change our form - to put us in the position to be able to share in the inheritance of an everlasting personal relationship with God and live with Him forever:
John 3: 5, 6 & 7; ''Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man is born of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.''
So, here Jesus is telling Nicodemus, a Pharisee and a ruler of the Jews who secretly came to Jesus during the night seeking out answers to questions that must have been troubling him, what a person must do to be saved from this world and to obtain everlasting life.
Jesus' told him that to have everlasting life he must be born again, even though he could not return to his mother's womb to be born once more into this physical and finite world - or as I call it - the realm of the ''flesh''.
No, this time, Jesus tells Nicodemus, you (and everyone else for that matter!) must be born again through the transforming power of the Spirit to be able to enter heaven - or as I call it - the realm of the ''Spirit''; the realm where God will dwell with His people for ever, and ever, and ever.
Later in his earthly ministry, just before his sacrifice, Jesus told his disciples that he would be leaving them and going back to his Father; but for the anxious and bemused disciples he promised that he would not leave them comfortless and would send them a helper - the Holy Spirit:
John 1: 1, 17, 18, 19 20; ''And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter [Helper], that he may abide in you forever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not. neither knoweth him; but ye know him for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me; because I live ye shall live also. At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.''
This '' another Comforter'' (or another Helper, from the Greek literally meaning 'one called alongside to help'), would be sent to support and guide them in God's work once Jesus had returned to his Father; ''another'' stresses that this Helper would be like Jesus to them - a comforting fact in itself!
Jesus tells his apostles that
- this Comforter ''may abide in you forever''; in other words will permanent
- this Comforter will ''dwelleth'' with them - literally means ''takes up residence'' with them
- this Comforter would provide them with a new spiritual form which would enable them to become secure in Jesus, just as Jesus was in God - ''I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you''.
John 14: 26; ''But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance, whithersoever I have said unto you.''
Following his atoning 'Passover' sacrifice and victory over death on the cross, Jesus once more assured his apostles that even though he was about to leave this earthly physical, realm of the flesh and return to his Father in the spiritual realm of heaven in his absence he would not leave them without help:
Acts 1: 4, 5, 6, 8 & 9; ''And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye heard of me. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. But ye shall receive power, after [when] that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.''
And sure enough, at Pentecost, just as Jesus promised, the Holy Spirit came to his apostles:
Acts 2: 1, 2 & 4; ''And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord [purpose] in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the house where they were sitting. And they were filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.''
This ''speaking with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance'' reinforced what Jesus said would happen when his believers were baptised in the Spirit; that is born again in a spiritual form through the transforming power of the Holy Spirit:
Mark 16: 16 & 17; ''He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned [condemned], and these signs shall follow them that believe ; in my name they shall cast out devils [demons]; they shall speak in new tongues.''
This speaking in tongues accompanied the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the first Gentile converts at Corinth when listening to Peter preach the Gospel:
Acts 10: 44, 45, 46 & 47; ''While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost, fell on them which heard the word. And they of the circumcision [The Jews] 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. For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God. Then answered Peter, Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptised, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we? And he commanded them to be baptised in the name of the Lord.''
An isolated group in Ephesus, who may have been early believers in Jesus, were totally unaware of what happened at Pentecoste when the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, was given to dwell permanently within God's people for the first time.
However these believers in Ephesus, on hearing the true Gospel preached to them also spoke in tongues when the Holy Spirit came upon them: just like the previous accounts in Acts which recorded the 'mechanics' of the Jews receiving the Holy Ghost at Pentecoste in Jerusalem and in the above account of the Gentiles receiving the Holy Ghost at Corinth:
Acts 19: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6; ''And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts [regions] came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples, He said unto them, Have [did] ye received the Holy Ghost since [when] ye believed? And they said to him, We have not so much as heard of whether there be any Holy Ghost. And he said unto them Unto what then were ye baptised? And they said , Unto John's baptism. Then said Paul, John verily baptised with the baptism of repentance, saying to the people, that they should believe on him who should come after him, that is, on Jesus Christ. When they heard this, they were baptised in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they speak with tongues, and prophesied.''
Now, why did the early apostles not only seek to baptise people in water but also seek for the believer to be baptised by the transforming power of Holy Spirit?
Well, they were following not only the advice of John the Baptist ... :
Matthew 3: 11; ''I indeed baptise you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier that I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptise you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:''
... but they were also following the command of ''he that cometh after me is mightier that I'', that is John the Baptist's cousin, Jesus:
John 3: 5, 6 & 7; ''Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man is born of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.''
So - what a lot to shout about:
- That through being born again in water and of the Spirit we can enter the Kingdom of God and live forever,
- That the transforming power of the Holy Spirit enables us to be adopted into God's family and have the status in the eyes of God's as joint heirs with Jesus Christ in this everlasting life to come
- That through the transforming power of the Holy Spirit we now have a spiritual dimension to our 'form' over which 'physical' death has no dominion or power
- That through the transforming power of the Holy Spirit we now have a new and amazing ability to speak directly to God, not in our fleshly 'mother' tongue (native language) which is sometimes impossible to control, but in our own 'spiritual' tongue, totally pure and under the control of the Holy Spirit,
But for now, one last thought:
John 4: 24: ''God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.''
1 Corinthians 14: 14 a & b; ''For if I [Paul] pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth ...''
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