have purified your souls in your obedience to
the truth unto unfeigned love of the brethren, love one another from the
heart fervently."
1 John 3:3: "And every one that hath this hope set on him purifieth
himself, even as he is pure."
"Men must cleanse themselves from wrong in thought, word and deed, and
purify their souls in obeying the truth. The Bible teaches that this is
God's way of purifying sinners" (_H.R. Pritchard, "Addresses,"_ p. 323).
From this chapter the reader will obtain the following Scripture facts:
1. The Holy Spirit rested on John the Baptist from his mother's womb.
2. The Holy Spirit filled his father Zacharias so that he prophesied.
3. The Holy Spirit bore witness to Jesus by descending and abiding upon
him, enabling John to identify him.
4. John promised a baptism in the Holy Spirit to some of his auditors
and threatened others with a baptism in fire.
1 Pet. 1:11, 12: "Searching what time or what manner of time the Spirit
of Christ which was in them did point unto, when it testified beforehand
the sufferings of Christ, and the glories that should follow them. To
whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto you, did they
minister these things, which now have been announced unto you through
them that preached the gospel unto you by the Holy Spirit sent forth
from heaven: which things angels desire to look into."
V
THE SPIRIT AND JESUS
The relation sustained by the Holy Spirit to Jesus Christ is a twofold
one. First: He predicted by the holy prophets the great facts in the
life of the coming one. Second: He associated himself with that one
after he came.
1. THE TIME OF HIS COMING WAS CLEARLY FORETOLD. He was to come "in the
last days," or in the end of the Jewish Dispensation. "And it shall come
to pass in the latter days, that the mountain of Jehovah's house shall
be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above
the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it" (Isa. 2:2).
2. HE WAS TO COME WHILE THE SECOND TEMPLE WAS IN EXISTENCE. "Behold, I
send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord,
whom ye seek, will suddenly come _to his temple_; and the messenger of
the covenant, whom ye desire, behold, he cometh, saith Jehovah of hosts"
(Mal. 3:1).
3. THE PLACE OF HIS NATIVITY WAS A MATTER OF PROPHECY. "But thou,
Bethlehem Ephrathah, which art little to be among the thousands of
Judah, out of thee shall one com
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