Question 47: In what way does the Holy Spirit reveal truth in our lives today?
Answer: The Holy Spirit reveals truth in our lives today, not only through the general revelation of God’s glory in creation, but through the redemptive call of Christ offered to all mankind in the gospel, through his word. This redemptive call is effectually sealed and realised in the life of true believers, by the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit.
Have you ever wished that you could have a conversation with the Lord? If the Lord Jesus was to stand on your doorstep, ring the door bell, and sit down with you for an afternoon, what would you give for an afternoon with him? What wouldn’t we give! You might not have realised it, but the Apostle Paul directly addresses this exact kind of scenario in 2 Corinthians 5:16: “From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer.” The communion that you presently have with Christ is superior and fuller to that which you would have over an afternoon conversation with him. Why? The reason is very simple. It is because the communion that we have with him at this present time is a communion that is directly mediated by the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. Let’s consider this from a different angle.
What kind of fellowship does the Father have with the Son? What kind of fellowship and communion does the Son have with the Spirit? This is a subject which, the Lord willing, we will have opportunity to study in itself at a later time. But consider, at least, for now, that the communion, love, and fellowship of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, is not at all a bodily communion. Our relationships with other people are a very corporeal experience. We talk, we hear, we laugh, we watch for body language. In the godhead, it is not so. God has not a body like men. It is a purely spiritual intercourse of the mind, will, and affections within the Godhead (I use the term “affections” with a deferential nod to toward the importance of orthodoxy on the impassibility of God… again, a topic for another time).
Now here is the touching point on these things for us: through the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit, the Godhead draws us in to this Trinitarian communion. In John 17:20-23, Jesus prayed for us: “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, (21) that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, (23) I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one.” If Jesus sat in your house and spoke with you, it would be an inferior and lower form of fellowship. If the Lord Jesus sat in a seat in our home, glorious as that would be, it cannot compare to the reality of God the Holy Spirit literally dwelling in your heart and drawing you in to spiritual communion with God Most High. We think longingly of the opportunity to see Christ in person – and well we ought. But we must not overlook the fact that the Holy Spirit literally resides – not on our doorsteps – but in our hearts.
Through the revealing ministry of the Holy Spirit, we are drawn in to a direct fellowship and communion with the Holy Spirit. God the Father is the objective truth. God the Son, is the full revelation of truth. God the Holy Spirit is the agent by which we perceive the revelation of the Father through the Son. At this point in our studies, we begin to consider this question of the intersection between truth – objective and revealed – and our own lives. If the Holy Spirit is the agent by which we receive and perceive God’s ministry of the truth, what is the nature of his revelational ministry in our own experience? That is the question, and set of questions, to which we now turn. This is our introduction.
We have already considered the role of the Holy Spirit in his work of natural revelation.1 This is a common touching point between God and all mankind. As creation declares the glory of God (Ps 19:1), and all mankind is literally sustained by the breath of the Almighty, “what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse” (Rom 1:19-20). In view of God’s natural revelation, all men perceive the glory of God. The Spirit bears an inner witness also, having endowed them with the spiritual faculty of a conscience. Clearly, however, God’s witness of natural revelation is not one designed to save fallen, sinful people. On the contrary, scripture testifies that our innate sinful nature does not receive this testimony, but rather “supresses the truth in unrighteousness” (Rom 1:18).
There is no salvation in natural revelation. For this reason, we then find that God redemptively revealed himself in Christ. Let’s refresh ourselves on this from our earlier studies:
Question 13: How does God reveal himself and his works to us so that we can know him?
Answer: In two ways. First, through his creative and sustaining work of natural revelation; and second, through his redemptive revelation in Jesus Christ.
Question 15: What does it mean to say that Christ is the redemptive word of God?
Answer: Christ, as the redemptive word of God, is God’s word spoken to us that we may be raised from our state of spiritual and bodily death, and may have life, and life abundant, in fellowship with God.
Question 16: What is God’s redemptive revelation?
Answer: The redemptive revelation of God is his saving revelation of himself, formerly through various acts, words, appearances, and symbols, and finally and ultimately culminating in the incarnate word himself: Jesus Christ.
So that is the creational, or natural witness of the Holy Spirit. How, then, does the Holy Spirit reveal God’s redemptive revelation to us? We had a summary of this earlier in Question 17. Since Christ has ascended into heaven, we no longer know him according to the flesh, as in the days of his time on earth. Christ is to be known today through the reading, preaching, and teaching of the Word of God, as he is revealed in the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. In this way, by the ministry of the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ is continually preached and speaks.2 In other words, the Holy Spirit was active in the work of divine revelation prior to Christ’s incarnation, and continues to be actively revealing Christ today. The Holy Spirit issues a call to all mankind and, as Beeke and Smalley rightly point out, “The doctrine of divine calling highlights the centrality of the word of the Lord in all his works” (Beeke & Smalley, RST 3, p.284).
This calling comes to all mankind, by the Holy Spirit, as a general witness, and is applied savingly to God’s elect also by the Spirit. This revelational ministry of “calling” is what we are going to be focusing in on in our coming studies. It’s an incredibly important area of study, because it shows us the real touching point between God’s objective revelation of himself in Christ, and our own personal experience. We think longingly of the idea that we could speak with Christ in person, and yet perhaps we do not understand that the reality of spiritual life in the Spirit that we already have is far superior. The ministry of the Holy Spirit need not be a great mystery that we don’t understand, though of course there are depths of mystery that we do not understand! And yet God has revealed much to us in this area so that we can know clearly, in our own experience and with certainty, what it means to “walk by the Spirit” (Gal 5:16). I’m looking forward to these studies! I hope you are too. SDG.
1 Question 42: How does the Holy Spirit reveal God’s glory and works in the natural created order?
Answer: As the giver and sustainer of life, the Holy Spirit has revealed God’s glory in the natural revelation of creation by giving life and breath to all creatures, and by forming and sustaining the entire order of creation. As the Holy Spirit continues to sustain all things living and created, so also he continues to unfold and reveal the glory of God in creation to all mankind.
Question 43. To what end does the Holy Spirit continue to reveal God’s glory and works in the natural, created order?
Answer: God the Holy Spirit continues to reveal God’s glory and works in the natural created order so that all mankind will see his glory, and prove to be without excuse on the day of judgment; so that believers may worship, glorify, enjoy, love, know, and serve God; and so that in all God may be glorified in all his works.
2 Question 17: How can we know Christ?
Answer: Christ is to be known today through the reading, preaching, and teaching of the Word of God, as he is revealed in the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. In this way, by the ministry of the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ is continually preached and speaks that we may have life and life abundant.
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