The Promise of Divine Power

Christ Triumphant - A Devotional by E.G. White

The Promise of Divine Power

Today's Text: And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high. Luke 24:49

The Message:      Having magnified the law and made it honorable by accepting its conditions in saving a world from ruin, Christ hastened to heaven to perfect His work, and to accomplish His mission by sending the Holy Spirit to His disciples. Thus He would assure His believing ones that He had not forgotten them, though now in the presence of God where there is fullness of joy forevermore.      The Holy Spirit was to descend on those in this world who loved Christ. By this they would be qualified, in and through the glorification of their Head, to receive every endowment necessary for the fulfilling of their mission. The Life-giver held in His hands not only the keys of death but a whole heaven of rich blessings. All power in heaven and earth was given to Him, and having taken His place in the heavenly courts, He could dispense these blessings to all who receive Him....      The Holy Spirit was sent as the most priceless treasure the world could receive. The church was baptized with the Spirit's power. The disciples were fitted to go forth and proclaim Christ, first in Jerusalem, where the shameful work of dishonoring the rightful King had been done, and then to the uttermost parts of the earth. The evidence of the enthronement of Christ in His mediatorial kingdom was given....      The Father gave all honor to His Son, seating Him at His right hand, far above all principalities and powers. He expressed His great joy and delight in receiving the crucified One and crowning Him with glory and honor. And all the favors He has shown to His Son in His acceptance of the great atonement are shown to His people. Those who have united their interests in love with Christ are accepted in the Beloved. They suffered with Christ in His deepest humiliation, and His glorification is of great interest to them, because they are accepted in Him. God loves them as He loves His Son. Christ, Emmanuel, stands between God and the believer, revealing the glory of God to His chosen ones, and covering their defects and transgressions with the garments of His own spotless righteousness....      If God's people will sanctify themselves by obedience to His precepts, the Lord will work in their midst. He will renew humble, contrite souls, making their characters pure and holy.-Manuscript 128, 1897.

Commentary: My friend, the power that was given to the world after Jesus ascension to heaven was the Comforter which is the Holy Ghost.  Christ now in human form could not be in two places at once, but He could by His Spirit.  The Comforter that was sent to the disciples, was not the Spirit of another, but the omnipresent Spirit of Christ Himself.  In this way He comes to them and empowers them to do the will of God, for He said "... and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." (Matthew 28:20). The trinity teaches that the Holy Spirit is not the Spirit of the Father nor the Son, but a spirit unto itself, while the Scriptures declare that the Holy Spirit is the spirit of the Father and the Son.  Notice what the apostle Paul says in Romans.  "But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.  And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness." (Romans 8:9, 10).  In these verses the Spirit, the Spirit of God, and the Spirit of Christ are used interchangeably.  He does this because he understands that there is only one Spirit (see Ephesians 4:4-6). By takin the Holy Spirit and making it a being unto itself, it introduces to the believer another mediator between God and man, for it is by the Spirit that we are connected to God.  At its most basic level this is wrong, for the Scriptures says "For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;" (1 Timothy 2:5). The great controversy in heaven was about the authority of the Son of God.  Lucifer desired to be elevated above Christ that he may receive worship.  For this reason he was cast out of heaven on to the earth.  On the earth he continues the work of deception today.  By introducing the Holy Spirit as a being unto itself, he has artfully insinuated himself into this position.  By deceiving the whole of the Christian world into believing in the trinity, he has supplanted the image of God into an image of his own devising.  Thus, the people are rendering worship unto him in place of the One true God. My friend, there are too many texts in the Bible that show that the trinity is false.  Though theologians, pastors, and the leaders of the church try to show that the trinity is true, they do not line up with the Word of God when it says "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." (John 17:3). May you look unto Jesus who is the only one that can reveal the Father to us. God bless,

Video of the Week The Trinity & Ellen White - Nader Mansour Ellen White is thought to have promoted the Trinity. In this study, Nader Mansour examines some historical evidence that is often overlooked. The evidence is compelling and clear as to where Ellen White stood on this question.