Christ and the Spirit

compiled from the writings of Ellen G. White by Frank Klin

Christ declared that after His ascension, He would send to His church, as His crowning gift,
the Comforter, who was to take His place. This Comforter is the Holy Spirit,--the Soul of His Life,
the efficacy of His church, the Light and Life of the world. With His Spirit Christ sends a
reconciling influence and a power that takes away sin. [1]

It is not essential for you to know and be able to define just what the Holy Spirit is. Christ tells
us that the Holy Spirit is the Comforter, and the Comforter is the Holy Ghost, "the Spirit of truth,
which the Father shall send in My name." "I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another
Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot
receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him: but ye know Him, for He dwelleth with
you, and shall be in you" [John 14:16, 17]. This refers to the omnipresence of the Spirit of Christ,
called the Comforter. Again Jesus says, "I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot
bear them now. Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth is come, He will guide you into all truth [John
16:12, 13]. [2]

The impartation of the Spirit was the impartation of the very life of Christ, which was to qualify
the disciples for their mission. Without this qualification their work could not be accomplished.
Thus they were to fulfil the official duties connected with the church. But the Holy Spirit was not
yet fully manifested, because Christ had not yet been glorified. The more abundant impartation of
the Holy Spirit did not take place till after Christ's ascension. [3]

Cumbered with humanity, Christ could not be in every place personally; therefore it was
altogether for their advantage that He should leave them, go to His father, and send the Holy
Spirit to be His successor on earth. The Holy Spirit is Himself divested of the personality of
humanity and independent thereof. He would represent Himself as present in all places by His
Holy Spirit, as the Omnipresent. "But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father
will send in My name, He shall (although unseen by you), teach you all things, and bring all things
to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you" [John 14:26]. "Nevertheless I tell you the
truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will come not unto
you; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you" [John 16:7]. [4]

In describing to His disciples the office work of the Holy Spirit, Jesus sought to inspire them
with the joy and hope that inspired His own heart. He rejoiced because of the abundant help He
had provided for His church. The Holy Spirit was the highest of all gifts that He could solicit from
His Father for the exaltation of His people. The Spirit was to be given as a regenerating agent,
and without this the sacrifice of Christ would have been of no avail. The power of evil had been
strengthening for centuries, and the submission of men to this satanic captivity was amazing. Sin
could be resisted and overcome only through the mighty agency of the third person of the
Godhead, who would come with no modified energy, but in the fullness of divine power. It is the
Spirit that makes effectual what has been wrought out by the world's Redeemer. It is by the Spirit
that the heart is made pure. Through the Spirit the believer becomes a partaker of the divine
nature. Christ has given His Spirit as a divine power to overcome all hereditary and cultivated
tendencies to evil, and to impress His own character upon His church. [5]

Christ came to our world to restore the moral image of God in man. He takes human agents
into co-partnership with himself, giving them the breath of His own Spirit, the Life of His own Life.
To all who would obtain a correct view of their duty in regard to their fellow men, Christ gives
power to obtain righteousness and to do their work successfully. These breathe the atmosphere
that surrounds Christ. They live the true life that He lived in our world. [6]

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 Christ seeks to engage the attention of repentant sinners, that they may read the expression
of love in His face, and receive Him as their Saviour. He would turn men's minds from every
sound that emanates from him who abode not in the truth. He has knowledge to impart,--the
absolute necessity of regeneration by the Holy Spirit, who comes to the believing soul under the
great seal of solemn assurance. I speak to you, He said; I, who speak not merely as a man,--I,
who am the Truth,--I, who am acquainted with heaven, and all the characters that shall be there
admitted,--I, who hold the keys of the kingdom of heaven,--I say, "Except a man be born again,
he can not see the kingdom of God." The realization of the absolute necessity of regeneration
through the Holy Spirit comes to all who, by patient continuance in well-doing, seek for glory,
honor, and immortality. [7]

In the gift of the Spirit, Jesus gave to man the highest good that heaven could bestow. The
Saviour looked on humanity, and saw that it was under the power of the prince of darkness; but
He saw also that there was hope for human beings because there was power in the divine nature
successfully to contend with evil agencies. With glad assurance He said, "Now is the judgment of
this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will
draw all men unto Me." [8]

Christ's Word is the bread of life and the water of salvation. Trust in its fulness comes to us
through constant communion with God. By it we gain spiritual strength. Christ supplies the life-
blood of the heart, and the Holy Spirit gives nerve power. Begotten again unto a lively hope,
imbued with the quickening power of a new nature, the soul is enabled to rise higher and still
higher. Paul's prayer for the Ephesians was "that He would grant you, according to the riches of
His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in
your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with
all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ,
which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God." [9]

Those who eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of God have a vital, saving union with
Him. They are partakers of the divine nature. Christ dwells in the human tenement. True
Christians are one with Christ as Christ is one with God. The quickening of the Holy Spirit brings
life to the soul. When this is believed, understood, and known by experience, the character of
God is revealed in the human agent. Christ abides in the heart. [10]

We cannot let our light shine out to others, so as to attract their attention to heavenly things,
unless we have the light in us. We must be imbued with the Spirit of Jesus Christ, or we cannot
manifest to others that Christ is in us the hope of glory. We must have an indwelling Saviour, or
we cannot exemplify in our lives His life of devotion, His love, His gentleness, His pity, His
compassion, His self-denial, and purity. This is what we earnestly desire. This should be the
study of our lives, How shall I conform my character to the Bible standard of holiness? [11]

The work of the Holy Spirit is immeasurably great. It is from this source that power and
efficiency come to the worker for God; and the Holy Spirit is the Comforter, as the personal
presence of Christ to the soul. He who looks to Christ in simple, childlike faith, is made a partaker
of the divine nature through the agency of the Holy Spirit. When led by the Spirit of God, the
Christian may know that he is made complete in Him who is the head of all things. As Christ was
glorified on the day of Pentecost, so will He again be glorified in the closing work of the gospel,
when He shall prepare a people to stand the final test, in the closing conflict of the great
controversy. [12]

God's people would put on joy and gladness as a garment if they would only receive that
which He is waiting to give them,--that which would make them strong to help those in need of
help. Our people need the breath of spiritual life breathed into them, that they may arouse to
spiritual action. Many have lost their vital energy, and are sluggish, dead as it were. Let those
who have been receiving the grace of Christ help these souls to rouse to action. Let us keep in

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the current of life that comes from Christ, that we may impart to others. Healthy, happy action is
what is needed in the church today. [13]

The reason why the churches are weak and sickly and ready to die, is that the enemy has
brought influences of a discouraging nature to bear upon trembling souls. He has sought to shut
Jesus from their view as the Comforter, as one who reproves, who warns, who admonishes them,
saying, "This is the way, walk ye in it." Christ has all power in heaven and in earth, and He can
strengthen the wavering, and set right the erring. He can inspire with confidence, with hope in
God; and confidence in God always results in creating confidence in one another. [14]

Those who realize their need of repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus
Christ, will have contrition of soul, will repent for their resistance of the Spirit of the Lord. They will
confess their sin in refusing the light that Heaven has so graciously sent them, and they will
forsake the sin that grieved and insulted the Spirit of the Lord. They will humble self, and accept
the power and grace of Christ, acknowledging the messages of warning, reproof, and
encouragement. Then their faith in the work of God will be made manifest, and they will rely upon
the atoning sacrifice. They will make a personal appropriation of Christ's abundant grace and
righteousness, and He will become to them a present Saviour; for they will realize their need of
Him, and with complete trust will rest in Him. They will drink of the water of life from the divine,
inexhaustible fountain. In a new and blessed experience, they will cast themselves upon Christ,
and become partakers of the divine nature. The human and the divine will co-operate every day,
and the heart will well up in thanksgiving and praise to Christ. Heavenly inspiration will have a
part in the Christian experience, and we shall grow to the full stature of men and women in Christ
Jesus. [15]

John says, "This is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask anything according to
His will, He heareth us; and if we know that He hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we
have the petitions that we desired of Him." Let us dwell much upon these points before the
people, that their ideas may be enlarged, their faith increased. They should be encouraged to ask
largely, and expect without a doubt the riches of His grace; for through Jesus we can come into
the audience chamber of the Most High. Through His merits we have access by one Spirit unto
the Father. Oh, that we may have a deeper experience in prayer! With confidence we may come
to God, knowing what it is to have the presence and power of His Holy Spirit. We may confess
our sins, and right there, while asking, know that He pardons our transgressions, because He has
promised to forgive. We must exercise faith, and manifest true earnestness and humility. We can
never do this without the grace of the Holy Spirit. We must lie low at the feet of Jesus, and
cherish no selfishness, reveal no self-uplifting, but in simplicity seek the Lord, asking for His Holy
Spirit as a little child asks bread of his parents. [16]

Hand yourself over to Jesus, to be molded and fashioned by Him, that you may be made
vessels unto honor. Your temptations, your ideas, your feelings, must all be laid at the foot of the
cross. Then the soul is ready to listen to words of divine instruction. Jesus will give you to drink of
the water which flows from the river of God. Under the softening and subduing influence of His
Spirit your coldness and listlessness will disappear. Christ will be in you a well of water, springing
up into everlasting life. This will make you a blessing to others; for you will be able to lead them to
Jesus. Your testimony will not be dry, but practical. You will be enabled to do a work that is as
enduring as eternity. [17]

Be clothed with humility as with a garment. Bear no thorns to prick and to bruise others, but
make manifest the fruits of the Spirit--"love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness,
faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law" (to condemn). "And they that are
Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also
walk in the Spirit. Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one
another" [Gal. 5:24-26]. In all our work for the Master, we must keep studying His Spirit, His life
and character. [18]

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 This is God's order, and if men expect success, they must labor according to His arrangement.
Oh, how much the workers need the Spirit of Jesus to change and fashion them as clay is molded
in the hands of the potter! When they have this Spirit, there will be no spirit of variance among
them; no one will be so narrow as to want everything done his way, according to his ideas; there
will be no inharmonious feeling between him and his brother laborers who do not come up to his
standard. The Lord does not want any of His children to be shadows of others; but He would have
each one be his own simple self, refined, sanctified, ennobled by imitating the life and character
of the great Pattern. The narrow, shut-in, exclusive spirit which keeps everything within the
compass of one's self, has been a curse to the cause of God, and always will be wherever
allowed to exist. [19]

In a vision Jacob beheld a mystic ladder reaching from earth to heaven, on which were angels
ascending and descending, and from the throne of God the glory of heaven streamed down. This
ladder represented Jesus, the appointed medium of communication between man and God. Had
He not by His humanity bridged the gulf of separation that sin had made between God and His
people, the angels could never have been ministering spirits to communicate with fallen man; but
through Christ man in his weakness and helplessness is connected with the source of infinite
power. [20]

Jesus is waiting to breathe upon all his disciples, and give them the inspiration of His
sanctifying Spirit, and transfuse the vital influence from Himself to His people. He would have
them understand that henceforth they cannot serve two masters. Their lives cannot be divided.
Christ is to live in His human agents, and work through their faculties, and act through their
capabilities. Their will must be submitted to His will, they must act with His Spirit, that it may be no
more they that live, but Christ that liveth in them. Jesus is seeking to impress upon them the
thought that in giving His Holy Spirit He is giving to them the glory which the Father has given
Him, that He and His people may be one in God. Our way and will must be in submission to
God's will, knowing that it is holy, just, and good. [21]

Let every church member kneel before God, and pray earnestly for the impartation of the
Spirit. Cry, "Lord, increase my faith. Make me to understand thy word; for the entrance of thy
word giveth light. Refresh me by thy presence. Fill my heart with Thy Spirit that I may love my
brethren as Christ loves me." [22]

[Y]ou have no effectual means of accomplishing so noble a task but by communing deeply
with the Spirit of Jesus. Resolve, therefore, to live at His footstool, and He will inspire you with
every high and holy quality necessary to enable you to fulfill your earthly mission. [23]

God will bless those who thus prepare themselves for His service. They will understand what it
means to have the assurance of the Spirit, because they have received Christ by faith. The
religion of Christ means more than the forgiveness of sin; it means that sin is taken away, and
that the vacuum is filled with the Spirit. It means that the mind is divinely illumined, that the heart
is emptied of self, and filled with the presence of Christ. When this work is done for church
members, the church will be a living, working church. [24]

The Holy Spirit is the breath of life in the soul. The breathing of Christ upon His disciples was
the breath of true spiritual life. The disciples were to interpret this as imbuing them with the
attributes of their Saviour, that in purity, faith, and obedience, they might exalt the law, and make
it honorable. God's law is the expression of His character. By obedience to its requirements we
meet God's standard of character. Thus the disciples were to witness for Christ. [25]

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 In the fourteenth chapter of John much is said about keeping the commandments of God. "He
that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me." "If a man love Me, he
will keep My words; and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and make Our
abode with him. He that loveth Me not keepeth not My sayings; and the word which ye hear is not
Mine, but the Father's which sent Me." No one can abide in Christ and treat the law of God with
indifference and disrespect; for this would be arraying Christ against Christ. In a heart renewed by
the Spirit of Truth there will be love for all the commandments of God. Jesus declares, "I have
kept My Father's commandments;" and all who love Jesus will live in communion with God and
with the Son. Those who make so much show of rejoicing, saying they are in Christ, but do not
obey the commandments of God, do not partake of the nourishment of the living vine. All who are
grafted into the parent stock will have a vital union with the living vine. They will love that which
Christ loves; their taste will be identical with his. Jesus plainly stated that when we treasure up
His words and do them, we give evidence that we have that genuine love which makes us one
with the Father. We are one in taste and inclination. The Spirit of Jesus fills the Christian with His
love, His obedience, His joy. "If ye keep My commandments, ye shall abide in My love, even as I
have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love." [26]

"Herein is My Father glorified," said Jesus, "that ye bear much fruit." God desires to manifest
through you the holiness, the benevolence, the compassion, of His own character. Yet the
Saviour does not bid the disciples labor to bear fruit. He tells them to abide in Him. "If ye abide in
Me," He says, "and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto
you." It is through the word that Christ abides in His followers. This is the same vital union that is
represented by eating His flesh and drinking His blood. The words of Christ are Spirit and Life.
Receiving them, you receive the Life of the Vine. You live "by every word that proceedeth out of
the mouth of God." Matt. 4:4. The Life of Christ in you produces the same fruits as in Him. Living
in Christ, adhering to Christ, supported by Christ, drawing nourishment from Christ, you bear fruit
after the similitude of Christ. [27]

The Holy Spirit, which proceeds from the only begotten Son of God, binds the human agent,
body, soul, and spirit, to the perfect, divine-human nature of Christ. This union is represented by
the union of the vine and the branches. Finite man is united to the manhood of Christ. Through
faith human nature is assimilated with Christ's nature. We are made one with God in Christ.
[28]

Christ did not seek to be thought great, and yet He was the Majesty of heaven, equal in dignity
and glory with the infinite God. He was God manifested in the flesh. What a rebuke is the life of
Christ to everything like self-conceit, self-exaltation, seeking to be great among men! He was a
man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. Wonder, O heaven, and be astonished, O earth! The
divine nature in the person of Christ was not transformed in human nature and the human nature
of the Son of man was not changed into the divine nature, but they were mysteriously blended in
the Saviour of men. He was not the Father but in Him dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily,
and yet He calls to a suffering world, "Come unto Me, all ye that labor, and are heavy laden, and I
will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and
ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light." [29]

Through being partakers of the divine nature we may stand pure and holy and undefiled. The
Godhead was not made human, and the human was not deified by the blending together of the
two natures. Christ did not possess the same sinful, corrupt, fallen disloyalty we possess, for then
He could not be a perfect offering. [30]

Christ is represented as dwelling by His Spirit in His people; and believers as "built upon the
foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner-stone, in
whom all the building fitly framed together, groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord; in whom ye
also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit." "I therefore, the prisoner of
the Lord," Paul says, "beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,

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with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love; endeavoring
to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bonds of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye
are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of
all, Who is above all, and through all, and in you all." [31]

1. Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, May 19, 1904 par. 1

2. Letter 7, 1891, Manuscript Releases Vol. 14, page 179 par. 3
3. Advent Review & Sabbath Herald, June 13, 1899 par. 7
4. Manuscript 5a, 1895, Manuscript Releases Vol. 14, page 23 par. 3
5. 1898, Desire of Ages, page 671 par. 2
6. Advent Review & Sabbath Herald, July 19, 1898 par. 19
7. Advent Review & Sabbath Herald, July 19, 1898 par. 20
8. Advent Review & Sabbath Herald, May 19, 1904 par. 2
9. Signs of the Times, October 3, 1900 par. 7
10. Ibid, par. 13
11. Advent Review & Sabbath Herald, March 29, 1870 par. 5
12. Advent Review & Sabbath Herald, November 29, 1892 par. 3
13. Pacific Union Recorder, November 5, 1903 par. 6
14. Advent Review & Sabbath Herald, August 26, 1890 par. 10
15. Ibid, par. 6
16. Signs of the Times, October 3, 1892 par. 5
17. Letter 57, 1887, Manuscript Releases Vol. 21, page 302 par. 4
18. Letter 92, February 17, 1895, Manuscript Releases Vol. 19, page 210 par. 1
19. Advent Review & Sabbath Herald, April 13, 1886 par. 5
20. The Messenger, December 15, 1892 par. 5
21. Signs of the Times, October 3, 1892 par. 4
22. Advent Review & Sabbath Herald, June 10, 1902 par. 9
23. The Health Reformer, July 1, 1873 par. 28
24. Advent Review & Sabbath Herald, June 10, 1902 par. 10
25. Advent Review & Sabbath Herald, June 13, 1899 par. 6
26. Signs of the Times, December 28, 1891 par. 15
27. 1898, Desire of Ages page 677 par. 1
28. Advent Review & Sabbath Herald, April 5, 1906 par. 16
29. Letter 8a, 1890, Manuscript Releases Vol. 6, page 112 par. 3
30. Manuscript 94, 1893, Manuscript Releases Vol. 6, page 112 par. 2
31. Advent Review & Sabbath Herald, December 31, 1908 par. 1

Scripture Studies

He Shall Baptize You With The Holy Ghost: http://www.scribd.com/doc/33334097/And-He-Shall-Baptize-

You-With-the-Holy-Ghost
The Gift, Our Abiding Possession: http://www.scribd.com/doc/33488382/The-Gift-Our-Abiding-Possession
Communion And Fellowship: http://www.scribd.com/doc/33334551/Communion-and-Fellowship
Spiritually Minded versus the Flesh: http://www.scribd.com/doc/35445981/Spiritually-Minded-vs-the-Flesh
Father and Son Working Together: http://www.scribd.com/doc/33841976/Father-and-Son-Working-Together
The Word “Spirit” in Scripture: http://www.scribd.com/doc/34507728/The-Word-Spirit-in-Scripture

More Inspirational Thoughts

The Spirit and Life of Christ in the Soul:http://www.scribd.com/doc/34618080/The-Spirit-and-Life-of-Christ-in-the-Soul

This is My Beloved Son: http://www.scribd.com/doc/34034531/This-Is-My-Beloved-Son
Our High Calling: http://www.scribd.com/doc/35207206/Our-High-Calling
The Light of Life: http://www.scribd.com/doc/33615673/The-Light-of-Life
The Divine Endowment: http://www.scribd.com/doc/34296108/The-Divine-Endowment
Our Power, Our Comfort: http://www.scribd.com/doc/33940161/Our-Power-Our-Comfort