The Daily Word of Righteousness

The First Four Feasts, #21

Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through the waters; the waters were to the knees. Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through; the waters were to the loins. (Ezekiel 47:4)

Speaking in tongues, which once was merely a phenomenon which we attached to our regular church life, now has become an important part of our Christian discipleship. Speaking in tongues is a help in learning to pray and live in the Spirit. Giving our life to the Spirit of God gradually has become a joyful attraction to us.

"Afterward he measured a thousand, and it was a river that I could not pass over: for the waters were risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed over." The death and life, death and life, death and life, processes now have resulted in our turning back to God all that He has created in us so our spirit, soul, and body are one with God and in God through Christ.

It is an unsettling day for the fleshly nature of the believer when he finally comes to an experience that is too large for him to understand or control. The fullness of the life in the Spirit is as a river that can be neither defined nor controlled.

The personality of the Christian—his imaginations, motives, words, and deeds—is to come under the dominion of the Spirit of Christ. The believer's life is to be given to God without reservation. In the words of Isaiah, the Christian must be "broken, and snared, and taken [captured]." He is to press forward until he experiences the knowledge of Christ, the power of the resurrection of Christ, the fellowship of the sufferings of Christ.

At the coming of the Lord the sufferings will cease and the faithful disciple will be immersed in the fullness of the Holy Spirit, the River of God, forever. Indestructible resurrection life will extend into the spirit, soul, and body of the saint.

We humans are unable to measure the quality or the quantity of the Spirit of God. Mankind has witnessed one Person who walks eternally in the fullness of the Holy Spirit. The Son of Man possesses the Spirit without measure. Will we, as Esau, trade the inheritance of the life lived in the fullness of the Spirit of God for the fleshly pleasures of the present wicked age?

Here then is the significance of speaking in tongues. As we continue to pray in the Spirit we are being brought under the governing power of the Spirit of God. We are entering the "rest" of God. All the manifestations of the Holy Spirit are means given by God to bring us to the goal of redemption, which is conformity to the image of the Lord Jesus and unblemished union with Him.

To be continued.