What It Means to be Filled with the Holy Spirit # 17

"And When the Day of Pentecost Was Fully Come" (continued)

"The hour cometh, and now is" that Christ is the Reality of All that God has Purposed. Christ is our Passover, HE is the Feast of the Lord, HE is the only ONE that fully satisfies God the Father, HE is the ONE of Whom the Lord God could say: "Thou art My Beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased" (Mark 1:11). This is My Beloved Son, Who wholly and completely satisfies My every Desire, Purpose, and Will. And after we have believed in God's Beloved Son, after we have received Jesus Christ as our Saviour and Lord, then Jesus Christ, the Son of God is to become The Only True Reality, The Only True and Genuine One, Who fully satisfies us as we partake of Him Who is the Feast of the Lord - and in The Word of God, "feasting" implies partaking and sharing of the feast with great joy.

In the New Testament, we are told that we are to be:

Partakers [joint sharers] of Grace (Phil. 1:7)

Partakers [joint sharers] of His (God's) Promise In Christ of the Unsearchable Riches of Christ (Eph. 3:6, 8)

Partakers [unto the share] of the inheritance of the saints in The Light (Colossians 1:12)

Partakers [joint-sharers] of The Divine Nature (2 Peter 1:4)

Partakers [joint-sharers] of the Heavenly Calling, the On-High Calling (Hebrews 3:1)

Partakers [joint sharers] of the Glory that shall be revealed (1 Peter 5:1)

Partakers [joint sharers] of His Holiness [ the result of chastening] (Hebrews 12:10)

And, beloved, we are also given, through the Grace of God, the priceless privilege of partaking of, and sharing in, His sufferings (2 Corinthians 1:7; 2 Timothy 1:8; Phil. 3:10; 1 Peter 4:13).

"But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when His Glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad with exceeding joy" (1 Peter 4:13).

Therefore, we are to partake of Christ, for in Christ we find ALL that wholly satisfies and delights God! And if we look again at John six, we will see that the Lord Jesus begins to make this very clear as He proclaims: "I AM the Bread of Life." And John 6:4 tells us that when the Lord proclaimed that He was the Bread of Life, another Passover was near; and this implies that at least a year had passed since Jesus cleansed the temple (John 2:13). And although John does not record it all, it had been a time of ministering to the needs of the multitudes, and it had been a time of teaching and of training for His disciples: - the Sermon on the Mount had been given (Matthew five; six; and seven); the twelve apostles had been called (Mark 3:13-19; John 6:67); and He healed many that were sick of various diseases, and cast out many demons (Mark 1:34); and much, much more. Furthermore, it had been a time of intense spiritual conflict between Christ and the religious leaders as the enemy furthered his plan to kill the Christ of God; for satan knew that when Christ fulfilled God's purpose, his doom was sealed (Mark 2:6, 24; Mark 3:6; John 5:10-18).

~T. Austin-Sparks~

(continued with # 18)