_OTHER NEW TESTAMENT NAMES FOR "BEING
FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT."_
That we may see how full the New Testament is of this blessing, and that
we may the better understand what it is and how it is obtained, let us
just glance at some other terms used by the Holy Ghost when speaking of
it.
_1. "Baptized with the Holy Ghost."_
"Ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence" (Acts i.
5). See also Acts xi. 16, Matt. iii. 11, Mark i. 8, Luke iii. 16, John i.
33. Now, though "baptized" and "filled" are sometimes convertible terms,
it is instructive to note that they are not always so. The promise in
Acts i. 5, "Ye shall be baptized," was fulfilled in Acts ii. 4, "And they
were all filled," where "filled" is used for "baptized." In Acts iv. 8 we
read, "Peter filled with the Holy Ghost," and in ver. 31, "They were all
filled with the Holy Ghost;" where the word "baptized" could _not_ be
used instead of the word "filled." The difference is this: the "baptism"
is received but once; it is, so to speak, the initiatory rite to the life
of Pentecostal service, and fullness, and victory. Life begins at the
Cross, but service begins at Pentecost. If there has been no Baptism,
there has been no Pentecost; and if no Pentecost, no service worth the
name. "Tarry until ye be clothed with power," said the Master (Luke xxiv.
49); "Wait for the promise" (Acts i. 4); "Ye shall be baptized with the
Holy Ghost not many days hence" (Acts i. 5); "Ye shall receive power when
the Holy Ghost is come upon you" (Acts i. 8). And we see that, in
compliance with the commands of their Master, no service of any kind did
these men attempt till "the day of Pentecost was fully come" (Acts ii. 1).
"Theirs not to make reply!
Theirs not to reason why!"
Their business was simply to _obey_. With the promised "Baptism" they
entered upon a new phase of life, experience, and service, and this
"Baptism" need not be repeated; but not so the "Filling." Peter was
"filled" in Acts ii. 4, again in Acts iv. 31. The "Filling" may be, and
ought to be, repeated over and over and over again; the "Baptism" need be
but once. In support of this, note how frequently the word "filled" is
used in the Acts and Epistles compared with the word "baptized." The
Baptism which we are considering here must not be confounded with the
baptism in 1 Cor. xii. 13, the "Being baptized into one body." Paul is
speaking there of every believer having been quickened from the dead by
the agency of the Holy Spirit, and thus made a member of Christ's
mystical body. This is a Pauline way of stating the being "born again" of
John iii. 7. It was to those who already had been "baptized into one
body" that Christ gave the promise, "Ye shall be baptized with the Holy
Ghost" (Acts i. 5). In view then of this word of Christ, "Ye shall be
baptized," and of the word of John the Baptist, recorded in John i.
29-33, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world
... the same is He that baptizeth with the Holy Spirit" (the same
promise is also recorded by Matthew, Mark, and Luke), it surely cannot be
unscriptural for a believer--painfully conscious that as yet this word
has not been fulfilled in his experience, that for him as yet the day of
Pentecost has not fully come--to pray "Lord Jesus, baptize me with the
Holy Ghost!" Why should this be regarded as unscriptural, when in view of
the word, "Be filled with the Spirit," the prayer, "Lord, fill me with
the Spirit," is considered to be in accord with Scripture? Surely the one
prayer in its proper place is as scriptural as the other! To know Christ
as the Sin-bearer is but _half_ salvation; to know Him also as the great
Baptist is _full_ salvation. How many there are who know Christ as their
Sin-bearer who have no experimental acquaintance with Him as the Baptizer
with the Holy Ghost! One cannot think that it would be grieving to the
Holy One that such people should cry for the promised Baptism; but
then, when it has been received, let us bear in mind the
difference, already pointed out, between "baptized" and "filled;" that
now that "the day of Pentecost has fully come," and that he has been
baptized with the Spirit, he must not continue praying for the baptism,
for that cannot be repeated; whereas he may ask and obtain a fresh
filling, a refilling with the Holy Ghost every day of his life.
_2. "Rivers of living water."_
"He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly
shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake He of the Spirit,
which they that believed on Him were to receive: for the Spirit was not
yet given; because Jesus was not yet glorified" (John vii. 38, 39). One
may ask, what is it to be "filled with the Spirit"? The Teacher Himself
makes answer: It is to have "rivers of living water flowing" from one's
soul. See the universality of the promise, "He that believeth on Me;"
_no_ believer, even the weakest, obscurest, is outside its
magnificent sweep, unless by his unbelief he puts himself there. This is
not a promise for the Spiritual aristocracy of the Church, as some, with
more heat than sense, maintain. Let us have done with whittling away the
vast Godlike promises of the Divine Word, till they come within the
cramped limits of our poverty-stricken experience, and let us set to work
in earnest to bring our experience abreast of God's promises. This
promise is for _you_. Has it then been verified in your life and
experience? If not, why not? Is there not a cause? But note more closely
its hugeness, its Godlike vastness, "Rivers!" not a tricklet, or a
babbling brook--by its babbling proclaiming its shallowness--or a stream,
or a river, but Rivers! What Divine prodigality! It is the Brisbane, the
Clarence, the Hawkesbury, the Murray, the Murrumbidgee, the Tamar and the
Derwent all rolled into one--_Rivers_! By the widest, wildest stretch of
imagination could it be said of you that "Rivers of living water" are
flowing from you--"flowing," mind you, "flowing"? See the freshness, the
freedom, and the spontaneity of the service; no force-pump work about the
flowing of the Rivers; none of the hard labor of the "soul in prison"
(Ps. cxlii. 7). When the "Rivers" begin to flow the worker may sell his
force-pump; his prayer has been answered, "Bring my soul out of prison."
It is worth noting the gradation in John iii., iv., vii. In John iii. 7
we have "Life" in its beginnings--the new birth. In John iv. 14 we have
"Life abundantly"--"a well of water springing up." The secret of the
perennial upspringing is in the word "drink-e-t-h;" "he that
drinketh"--not takes a drink, but drinks and drinks and keeps on drinking,
is in the habit of drinking--that man never thirsts; for how can a man's
soul be dry and thirsty with a well of water in it? Many people are
living in the third of John,--they have "Life," but it is not strong and
vigorous; they are suffering from deficient vitality,--when Jesus wants
them to be in the fourth, enjoying "Life abundantly." The difference
between the two experiences is well illustrated in the case of Hagar. In
Gen. xxi. 14 we read that Abraham gave Hagar "a bottle of water" and sent
her away. As she wandered in the wilderness "the water was spent in the
bottle" (ver. 15). But in ver. 19 "God opened her eyes, and she saw a
well of water." There are "bottle" Christians, and there are "well"
Christians. 'Tis a painful experience wandering in the wilderness with an
empty bottle and a dying child! Alas! that there should be so many
acquainted with the pain, when all the time God wants us to be
independent of any bottle, to be abundantly satisfied with a well of
water within us, fed from the hills of God. He wants us to be independent
of all but Himself. The "well" is in every Christian, though it is not
"springing up" in every one that has it. The very well, on the side of
which Jesus, weary with His long journey from Eternity, once sat, has
to-day no thirsty men or women coming to it with their empty pitchers,
for the well is dry. How? why? Because so much rubbish has fallen in that
the well is choked. Clear out the well, and the water will spring up
again as in Christ's day. So with many a child of God. The water is
within them, the well is there, but it is choked; the water is not
springing up, and so they are reduced to dependence on a bottle! Oh! for
an anointed eye in our head to see the rubbish, and for grace in our
hearts to deal with it, to judge it and to cast it out; and then we would
soon have an eye to "see the well of water." May He break every "bottle,"
and open every eye to see "the well." Now let us contrast the "well" of
the fourth chapter with the "rivers" of the seventh. The "well" is for
the supply of all possible _local_ needs; but since the Christianity of
Jesus is essentially an unselfish thing, He has made ample provision for
the supply of _surrounding_ needs; "out of him" in whom is the
"well"--"out of him" who is abundantly satisfied with Christ--"shall
flow rivers of living water," bearing life and satisfaction and gladness
into the abounding death and destitution and dreariness that exist on
every hand; for "everything shall live whithersoever the river cometh"
(Ezek. xlvii. 9). Does your Church, your neighborhood feel the
vivifying, fructifying, refreshing influences of your presence? Most
certainly, if John vii. 38 is your experience; in other words, if you
have been "filled with the Spirit." But remember we must go through the
fourth of John to get into the seventh! In John iii. we have the
Indwelling, in John iv. the Infilling, and in John vii. the Overflowing.
_3. "The Promise of the Father."_
"Wait for the promise of the Father" (Acts i. 4). See also ii. 33, ii.
39, Gal. iii. 14, Luke xxiv. 49. There are many promises in the Divine
Word given us by the Father; but there is only one promise spoken of as
"_The_ promise," giving it a pre-eminence among all the other "exceeding
great and precious promises." What that "promise" was is ascertained by
comparing Acts i. 4, "Wait for the promise," with Acts i. 5, "Ye shall
be baptized," and Acts ii. 4, "They were all filled." To whom does "the
promise" of the Father belong? surely to all the Father's children
without favor or distinction. Since then "the promise is unto _you_," the
question for "you" to settle is, Have you "_received_" the promise? A
promise never made use of is like a check never cashed, and is of little
use to the one who gets it. Have you cashed the check? If not, why not?
the fault is with the child and not with the Father.
_4. "Pouring Forth."_
"I will pour forth of My Spirit upon all flesh" (Acts ii. 17). See also
Acts ii. 18, Joel ii. 28, 29, Isaiah xliv. 3, Acts ii. 33, Acts x. 45.
From this expression we may learn still more clearly the copiousness of
the blessing.
_5. "The gift."_
"And ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost" (Acts ii. 38). See also
Acts viii. 20, Acts x. 45, Acts xi. 17. From this expression may we not
learn the freeness of the blessing? In this connection ponder carefully
the "how much more" of Luke xi. 13.
_6. "Receiving."_
"And they received the Holy Ghost" (Acts viii. 17). See also, "Ye shall
receive power" (Acts i. 8); "Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye
believed?" (Acts xix. 2); Acts viii. 15, John xx. 22, Gal. iii. 14.
Floods of light will be thrown upon the whole subject if we grasp clearly
the full force of this expression, "receive." "Receiving" is the
correlative of "The Gift." A gift will not profit one until it is
received. It is just here, at the _appropriating_, that we have come
short. God has not failed in His "giving," but we have failed in our
taking, in "receiving." "Receiving" is a distinct, definite act on our
part. Have we "received"? If not, why not? God is "giving."
_7. "Falling."_
"For as yet he was fallen upon none of them" (Acts viii. 16). See also
Acts x. 44, Acts xi. 15. From this expression may we not learn the
"_suddenness_" with which the blessing sometimes comes, and comes
consciously, too? Compare Acts ii. 2, "And suddenly there came from
heaven a sound."
_8. "Coming."_
"The Holy Ghost came on them" (Acts xix. 6). See also Acts i. 8, John xv.
26. John xvi. 7, 8, 13. From this expression may we not learn the
_personality_ of the Holy Ghost? "Christ Jesus _came_ into the world,"
and "the Holy Ghost _came_ on them," are two parallel expressions. If
Christ is here a person, why should the Holy Ghost be a mere influence?
_9. "Sealed."_
"Ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise" (Eph. i. 13). See also
2 Cor. i. 22. This "sealing" in Eph. i. 13, is the "receiving" of Acts
xix. 2; the "coming on them" of Acts xix. 6; for here, in this epistle,
Paul is evidently referring to the incident related in Acts xix. 1-7. In
Eph. i. 13, "In Whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of
truth, the gospel of your salvation: in Whom also after that ye believed,
ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise," we see the successive
stages through which the Ephesians passed in their spiritual history. (1)
There was a time when they had not heard the Gospel; they were living in
the darkness of heathenism. (2) Then came the day when they "heard the
word." (3) Then they "believed." (4) Succeeding this they were "sealed,"
"_after_ that ye believed ye were sealed;" a very distinct and definite
blessing this for the Ephesians, as definite as their salvation when they
believed. And yet, in face of this, some will affirm that there is no
such thing as a Christian receiving a new distinct blessing after his
conversion! If these Ephesians had this experience, why may not believers
still?
When a Christian is "sealed" by the Holy Ghost, "sealed" as the property
of his Master, there will be no need to ask, "Whose Image and
superscription is this" upon the "sealed" one? The King's, of course. Any
one can see the Image. Of what use is a "seal" if it cannot be seen? Is
the King's Image visibly, permanently stamped upon us? It is on every
Spirit-filled "sealed" believer.