By John Hames
"Christ in you." Col. 1:27; "That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith." Eph. 3:17.
God has made several divine approaches toward man. The first approach was at Mt. Sinai when He spoke from the top of the mount with a loud voice. Israel fled terror-stricken at the awful presence of God. God, in His second approach to man, came a little nearer. Deity clothed itself with the pillar of fire which hovered over Israel's camp and went before them and protected them. The pillar of fire a little later came and dwelt within their midst. They had just completed the tabernacle which was built according to the pattern given to Moses on the Mount. This was a perfect type of the Church and the individual saint. Every article of furniture was in its place. The Ark of the Covenant which contained the Ten Commandments was placed in the Holy of Holies. Every board, tack, loop, and curtain had been finished and placed according to God's command. They took their hands off and anointed it with oil as a symbol of the Holy Spirit's seal. In the language of A B. Simpson, immediately that majestic cloud which had crowned the Mount with its fiery glory and floated in the heavens in its lofty grandeur stooped from the skies and entered that holy place, and there, in the Holy of Holies, between the wings of the cherubim the mercy seat, it took its place as the glowing shekinah, that mysterious light and awful flame; which henceforth became the supernatural sign of God's immediate presence, which let up the holy chamber with supernatural light and glory. Mystery of mysteries, gifts of gifts! Privilege unspeakable and Divine! This is the promise which lie has at length fulfilled to the Church and His people and every believer may now personally claim." But the climax of all blessings was reached on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Ghost came and took up His abode within this earthly tabernacle and the body became a temple of the Holy Ghost.
This is the sum and substance of Holy Ghost religion. It is the very cream of Christianity. It is the climax of the atonement. There is nothing higher in this world than to be God-possessed and a temple of the Holy Ghost's. For years we have labored and sought for words to make this Divine indwelling plain.. but human language is a weak vehicle upon which to try to float eternal issues. This Divine indwelling is given to us in the scriptures under the figures of true marriage. Both St. Paul and the Saviour alludes to this. In what respect is true marriage a type of the Divine indwelling of Christ? For this answer we are indebted to Rev. B. Carradine:
(1) "Our answer is that it is the most intimate relation. A friend is near, but the wife is nearer. A business partner knows many secrets, but the wife is still ahead."
(2) "The Bible teaches in true marriage that two become one. Duality is lost in oneness. Who can or should come between husband and wife? This is a wonderful intimacy. God uses this to describe the state existing between Himself and the sanctified soul. Furthermore it is the most tender, the most satisfying relation. Men and women were made to be mated, and until that takes place a sense of incompleteness is felt. Regeneration does much for the soul; but one thing is certain, it has not satisfied and rested it according to its cravings. The longing is still there, the cry for another blessing. The soul wants to settle down and rest with the Savior. This is found in sanctification. Again it is a life of absence of care. The girl who gets a true, noble husband looks to him for support. When the soul becomes satisfied the old-time care ends.
(3) "It is a growing likeness to each other. All of us have noticed this. The light deepens in the countenance, the manner becomes tender, and the whole spirit, bearing, and appearance becomes more and more like Christ.
(4) "It is a growing knowledge and understanding of each other. The right thing is done often without a word. The sanctified soul needs no thundering sermons to be directed right. Such an one walks so close to God and has been so long with Him that he is 'guided by His eyes.' It is for all life.
(5) "There is an abidingness, a stay-at-home blessing. When the new bride is escorted to her new home, she enters with a feeling, "I am here to stay No more moving." When this takes place the soul becomes fixed, settled, grounded in the things of God. The countenance of Christ stands out like raised letters on the wall. The things of God becomes intensely real.
Notice the effect of this Divine indwelling. G. D. Watson states, "The baptism of the Holy Spirit puts the believer into a world of supernatural things in his heart and mind and the interior of his character. As we watch the effect of Pentecost upon the disciples, we notice first of all, they seemed to have been translated into a supernatural realm of heavenly character.
"Another effect of this Divine indwelling was that of clarifying the Christian graces in the soul. Before Pentecost we know the disciples had faith and humility, love, hope, zeal, good works, and other Christian virtues, but we notice in their conduct, there was a tremendous mixedness, various carnal tempers, and selfish desires were mixed with their graces. After Pentecost they manifested in their lives, their suffering, their labors, and their death, the various graces freed from mixture. They had faith without doubt, love without a trace of bitterness, humility without a touch of pride, hope without despondency, perfect courage without fear, boldness without imprudence. The graces were poured into them and ran through them like a clear limpid stream without any earthly mud."
"Another effect was a personal acquaintance with Jesus. He was enthroned until they learned more in three years after the comforter had taken its abode within, about Jesus than they had learned in three years with His bodily presence with them."
The great work of the Holy Ghost is to enthrone Christ within believers' hearts. Just as millions of dew-drops on the mountain side catch the rays of the rising sun until each dew-drop has a sun reflected in it. In like manner the Holy Ghost can take the Sun of Righteousness and turn His heavenly blaze in millions of hearts and yet each heart will have the fullness of His Divine indwelling. When the Holy Ghost enthrones Christ within, it is always accompanied by a warm sensation. It is accompanied with a peculiar heat; there is a melting, warm tenderness, sweetness, and juiciness. The Holy Ghost is God's heat, and wherever He carries Christ, He carries a living, warm Christ. I tell you the world is dying to see and know about a warm, personal, living, resurrected Christ. Christ enthroned within us is a cure for coldness and backsliding. st as long as we live on probation in a world full of tempting devils, there is a danger of backsliding, a danger of drifting, a danger of losing one's soul. But Christ enthroned is God's cure for lukewarmness in religion, worldliness, and growing cold. The indwelling Christ means easy victory over temptations. "Greater is He that is within you than he that is in the world." The beauty being sanctified wholly is that all remaining carnality has been swept out. That something that wants to listen to the voice of the tempter, that wants to open the door of the heart is gone. While we live in the same world with the same tempting devil, yet something has happened on the inside. The prince of this world (Satan) cometh, said Jesus, "but he findeth nothing in me."
Christ enthroned within makes dying our home going. It is the great coronation day -- the day you have looked forward to. Christianity is the only religion known to man that will take the sting out of death and the gloom out of the grave.
The Apostle Paul refused to use the word "death" in connection with his home-going. He used a word which was commonly used among mariners. When a ship was due to leave one port for another, the captain would call out the "time of our departure is a hand." That meant that the vessel would be untied and headed for another port. So when the old warrior came to the last mile of the way, and with his home-coming in view, he cried out and said, "The time of my departure is at hand." He meant to say, "God is going to untie me from this earthen vessel and I will head in for the heavenly portals." Figuratively speaking. the Apostle said, "I will have a cold breakfast in this dark dungeon, but I will take dinner with God and the angels in heaven." When that great saint, Rev. John Inskip, lay dying at Ocean Grove, he waved a big palmetto fan to and fro and cried out, "Triumphant! triumphant!" and was gone.
If this were the only feature of the sanctified life, it would pay us a thousand times to seek and obtain it. But Christ enthroned within means not only a victorious life, but as God said thy days shall be "as the days of heaven upon earth." Deut. 11:21. Such a person becomes heavenly-minded where heavenly thoughts, feeling, and hot, holy emotions fill the heart and mind.
May I ask where is Christ? In the heights of yonder heaven, or here in the sanctuary of your heart enthroned within?
