What It Means to be Filled with the Holy Spirit # 3

"He That Hath an Ear, Let Him Hear"

Seven times in Revelation, chapters two and three, and one time in Revelation 13:9, and seven times in the Gospels, the Lord directs, "He that hath an ear, let him hear" (Matthew 11:15; 13:9, 43; Mark 4:23; 7:16; Luke 8:8; 14:35). Fifteen times the Lord Jesus Christ speaks these words, and each time He is drawing our attention to truths which are of the deepest importance to the Church. And this is because each time the Lord speaks these words, a momentous, climactic time is taking place in God's full Purpose: - one part of God's full purpose is being fulfilled and consummated In the Christ, and simultaneously, the next part is being brought forth into reality by the power of the Holy Spirit. It is important to realize when Christ first speaks the words in the Gospels, "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear," at that time two of the greatest portions of God's Plan are imminent - the Cross and the Resurrection are about to become a completed reality. And let us not forget this, that at the same time and seasons that God is fulfilling each portion of His Purpose in Christ, satan is doing his evil all in his futile attempt to stop it. Consequently, we must take heed to the word of our Resurrected Lord, "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches ... for the strategic, epochal season is imminent."

The Lord chose the apostle John to write these inspired words, and in Revelation 1:10 we find him writing: "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet, saying, "Write in a book what you see [implies the spiritual eye], and send it to the seven churches ..." And in the Spirit, in the realm of the Spirit where God is working all things after the counsel of His Own Will, this Book would continuously be sent by the Spirit to every church in every age.

John's words give us the key to hearing what the Spirit saith unto the churches, for John said: "I was in the Spirit ... and I heard." And we must be "in the Spirit" if we are to hear "what the Spirit saith." Therefore, brethren, it becomes vital that we understand this phrase, "In the Spirit."

In Ephesians 2:19-22, the Holy Spirit tells of the all encompassing realm that is "in the Spirit."

"Now, therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone; in Whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy Temple in the Lord: in Whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit."

~T. Austin-Sparks~

(continued with # 4)