What It Means to Be Filled with the Holy Spirit # 4

"He That Hath an Ear, Let Him Hear" (continued)

Beloved, at the exact instant that each one of us is saved, we are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, "Jesus Christ Himself being the Chief Cornerstone" (Eph. 2:20). For the Lord God hath said: "Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, A Precious Cornerstone, A Sure Foundation: he who believes in it [in Him] will not be disturbed" (Isaiah 28:16). Christ is both our Sure Foundation  and our Precious Cornerstone - and In Him we, the redeemed, find our Beginning, our Source, our Development, our Consummation and our Fullness. - And "In Him all the building [all the redeemed] is being fitly-framed-together" (Eph. 2:21). - In Him the whole structure is continuously being joined together harmoniously; and this building which is being made up of all the redeemed continues to rise and grow and increase into and unto a holy temple in the Lord, into and unto a holy inner sanctuary in the Lord. - This building rises, grows, and increases in the Lord Jesus Christ Who Is the Sure Foundation and the Cornerstone, Who Is the Bond and the Substance, Who Is the Growth and the Completeness and the Sanctity of this holy temple in the Lord: - a holy temple not made of dead stones and mortar, but made of "living stones" into a living sanctuary in which "Christ is all, and in all." And, beloved, there is more to this wondrous and everlasting purpose of God, for in the Lord [ in Christ] In Him - and in fellowship with one another [we are] also being built up [into this structure] with the rest [of the redeemed] to form a fixed abode (a dwelling place) of God "in the Spirit" (Eph. 2:22).

The last three words of this surpassing statement about the eternal fullness of God's plan in Christ are the words, "In the Spirit"; and this takes us right back to the word which our Lord speaks to the churches, "Let Him that hath an ear, hear what the Spirit saith to the churches." And since John was "in the Spirit" when the Lord gave him this message for the churches, it stands to reason that we need to be "in the Spirit" if we are going to grasp fully what the Lord means by His Words. Hence, it is essential that we comprehend more fully what it means to be "in the Spirit."

~T. Austin-Sparks~

(continued with # 5 - "In the Spirit": The Entire Realm That Is In (en) The Spirit")