What It Means to be Filled with the Holy Spirit # 69

The Victory of the Cross of Christ (continued)

The Tribulation, the Kingdom and the Patient Endurance Which Are In Jesus Christ (continued)

The Lord knew that the twelve had discussed and argued among themselves who was the greatest among them. Jesus knew how ambitious their natural man was, but He also knew that their heart was wholly dedicated to Him (except for Judas). He knew that after the Cross had done its work in their lives that they would be "able." They would, in measure, have their Gethsemane; so He said to James and John: "The cup that I drink you shall drink; and you shall be baptized with the baptism with which I AM baptized." - And in saying it to them, He said it to all who will take up their cross and follow Him.

You know, beloved, when Peter said, "Lo, we have left all, and followed Thee," he was referring to earthly things, and earthly riches, and earthly ties (Mark 10:29). But when the Lord Jesus answered Peter, He was not speaking of the earthly realm. He was speaking of the hundredfoldness, limitless, spiritual blessings of the Kingdom of God. When Christ spoke of houses, brothers, sisters and mothers and lands etc., He was not speaking of the earthly realm, He was speaking of the spiritual blessings and the unsearchable riches which are In Him. Christ also said that this hundredfoldness of His Kingdom was to be received by us now, in the present age, "along with persecutions." He also said that we would receive this hundredfoldness, the unsearchable riches that are In Him, throughout eternity.

Christ was speaking of His Kingdom, which is not of this world. He was speaking of the Kingdom of God in which the greatest is the One Who is the servant of all, and only Christ is the Greatest; and in this Kingdom those who reign with Him must suffer with Him. - The Tribulation, the Kingdom, and the Patient Endurance which are in Jesus Christ are irrevocably linked together.

So the Lord Jesus Christ said to James and John, "The cup that I drink ye shall drink"; and "The cup He drank" always leads us to the agony of Gethsemane and the suffering of the Cross. Thus, in the Word of God, it is by Divine Design that the last two times Peter, James and John are recorded as being together is at Gethsemane, and then at Jerusalem, 12 or 15 years later, when the Holy Spirit solemnly tells us: "Now, at that strategic, significant period [in the growth of the Church and the success of the gospel message], Herod the king laid his hands upon certain of those who belonged to the Church for the purpose of maltreating them. And he put James, the brother of John, out of the way, beheading him with a sword ... and ... he put him (Peter) in prison" (Acts 12;1, 2).

~T. Austin-Sparks~

(continued with # 70)