Revelation 5:6-7 And I beheld, and, see, in the middle of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the middle of the elders… The seven operations of the Holy Ghost are — 1. First as the Convincer of sin. There is a certain consciousness of sin which may be without the Holy Ghost. There is scarcely any man who is not aware that he has done many wrong things. But there are two things in that man's sense of sin which prevent its being real repentance. He does not view his sins as grieving God, still less as having crucified Christ. 2. Then the Holy Ghost will show that man the real and only ground of all pardon. He will show him that Christ has been to this world to this very end, to bear our sins. 3. Then comes the great, blessed office of the Holy Ghost, to be our Comforter. First He makes us so to accept God's mercy that we rest in our forgiveness. And when the Holy Ghost has given us this first and chief comfort, then He will continue to be our Comforter every day in all our other sorrows. Other comforters generally try to remove our sorrow by making us forget it, or by putting something in its place. The Holy Ghost does not do that. He finds the elements of His comfort in the sorrow. He turns it into joy. 4. Then the Holy Ghost is the Great Teacher. He teaches as none else can ever teach. And for this reason He has the mind of God. And when He comes into our mind, He makes that mind to conform to the mind of God. 5. And He sanctifies. That is His great aim — to imbue us with Himself, to make us like God. In the Divine alchemy every metal turns to gold. A higher motive; a whole heart; a humble spirit; an untiring love; an inward communion of all thoughts — that changes, that purifies, that elevates. The old nature becomes gradually the new man, and God Himself sees us in Him; sees His own image, and He is satisfied. 6. From that time we carry within us wherever we go an inward light, a spring of joy, a voice which says so gently and yet so distinctly, "This is the way, walk ye in it; when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left." 7. And, finally, in all these wonderful and living ways, the Holy Ghost puts a seal upon us. He impresses us in our inner and outer life, with that image of the superscription of God — that badge of our high calling. (J. Vaughan, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. |
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