On the general dispensation of the Holy Spirit with respect to the new creation
The Holy Spirit completed the work of creation in all its parts. With respect to the new creation, the work is threefold.
I. His rich and copious influences and operations. The dispensation of the Spirit with respect to the new creation may be considered as follows:--
1. The plentiful effusion of the Spirit’s influences.
2. The ministry of the Spirit, in the Gospel, is called the ministry of the Spirit by way of eminence.
3. In the Gospel the Spirit is promised to all ranks and degrees of men.
4. Our Lord teaches all His disciples to pray for the Spirit (Luk_11:13).
5. The chief comfort which our Lord left to His disciples at His departure was the Spirit.
II. The work of the Spirit with respect to the human nature of Christ, the head of the new creation.
1. Spirit miraculously formed our Lord’s human nature, soul and body, in the womb of the Virgin.
2. He filled the human nature of our Lord with holiness; He sanctifies the new nature of the believer.
3. He carried on the progressive work of grace in our Lord’s soul and body; He carries on the sanctification of the believer unto perfection.
4. He anointed our Lord with all extraordinary powers necessary for the discharge of His offices; He anoints the believer for the discharge of every duty
5. He enabled our Lord to work miracles. He enables the believer to conquer sin and Satan: and are not these great miracles?
6. He directed and comforted our Lord in all His troubles. He directs and comforts believers in all their troubles.
7. He enabled our Lord to offer Himself without spot to God. He enables the believer to meet death in peace and purity.
8. He preserved our Lord’s dead body that it saw no corruption. He will gather the remains of the believer’s body, wherever they are.
9. He raised our Lord from the dead. He will raise the believer at the last day.
10. He glorified our Lord’s human nature. He will glorify the believer, when raised from the tomb.
II. He has borne witness concerning our Lord ever since He raised Him from the dead. He will write the name of the believer in the Book of Life.
III. The work of the Spirit upon the members of Christ’s mystical body. (J. Kidd, D. D.)
The breath of the Almighty hath given me life.--
The value of life
There are two conflicting theories of the origin of man. One brings him upward from the brute, the other downward from God.
1. Life, in its origin, is infinitely important. The birth of a babe is a mighty event. The Scandinavians have a very impressive allegory of human life. They represent it as a tree, the “Igdrasil,” or tree of existence, whose roots grow deep down in the soil of mystery; the trunk reaches above the clouds; its branches spread out over the globe. At the foot of it sit the past, present, and future, watering the roots. Its boughs, with their unleafing, spread out through all lands and all time; every leaf of the tree is a biography, every fibre a word, a thought, or a deed; its boughs are the histories of nations; the rustle of it is the noise of human existence onwards from of old; it grows amid the howling of the hurricane--it is the great tree of humanity.
2. Human life is transcendently precious from the services it may render to God in the advancement of His glory. Man was not created as a piece of guess work, flung into existence as a waif. There is purpose in the creation of every human being. What is the purpose of life? Man was created to be happy, to be holy! That is the double aim of life--duty first, then happiness as the consequence. The highest style of manhood and womanhood is to be attained by consecration to the Son of God.
3. Life is infinitely valuable from the eternal consequences flowing from it. This world is a solemn vestibule of eternity.
Practical thoughts--
1. How careful we ought to be to husband life.
2. What a stupendous crime wanton war becomes!
3. How short life is, yet infinite in its reach and retribution! What sort of life are you living?(T. L. Cuyler, D. D.)
