JOHN xvi. 15. “All
things that the Father hath are Mine; therefore said I, that
He shall take of Mine, and shall show it unto you.”

THERE is an office of the Spirit very important, and on
which Christ laid great stress on the eve of His departure
—that of a Revealer or Declarer of the things of Christ.
I. The Holy Spirit is the Manifestor of all things.
Christ’s work was a complete work—every debt was paid,
but there was needed the Holy Ghost to “show” it to the
sinner.
See how this truth takes its place in the great doctrine
of the Holy Trinity. Everything that is, is, and ever was,
the Father’s. All power, love, wisdom, grace, and peace.
As soon as Christ died for man, God treasured up every-
thing He had for His creatures in the person of Jesus.
He is the depositary of the whole property of God for the
Church. The Spirit, who is at once an actual part of
Jesus and an actual part of the believer, sharing His
nature, and combining Himself with our own, communi-
cates all God’s good things to us. Many have no sense of
peace and forgiveness who are striving hard after them.
Yet Christ has finished their salvation; but until the Spirit
reveals Himself, they can no more perceive it than Hagar
the water at her feet in the wilderness, or Elisha’s servant
the mountain full of horses and chariots of fire. There
are times when the most familiar passages of the Bible
wake up to us like a new creation, invisible things become
realities, and future promises are present property. This
is the Spirit’s work.
II. What the Spirit manifests He makes a possession.
He manifests a covenanted treasure, and seals it to us with
the oath of Almighty God. There are many rich, glorious
things waiting for the believer, just behind a little veil,
which only want the revealings of the Spirit to be bright
with power to the mind. The reason why some have made
great attainments in Divine knowledge is not because of a
great intellect, but because they have glorified the Spirit,
and He has shown them more. Remember that apostles,
with their three years’ walking with Christ, could not
understand the simplest parts of His teaching, till the
Holy Ghost fell on them at Pentecost. Taking the mind
of Jesus, He made it theirs; and the same Spirit is hover-
ing over us, willing to do the same for us. Cherish His
still movings, cultivate the revealings of the Holy Ghost.
James Vaughan, M.A.