The work of the Holy Spirit - pagina 107

:

REVELATION AS TO THE OLD TESTAMENT

67

—

work of the Holy Spirit operating in an old man who again and again "kicks against the pricks," who brings forth out of his own heart nothing but unbelief working in him a stedfast and immovable faith, bringing that faith into direct connection with his family life. Abraham is called " the Father of the Faithful," not in the superficial sense of a spiritual connection between our faith and Abraham's history, but because the faith of Abraham was interderful

—

woven with

the fact of Isaac's birth,

whom

he obtained by

and of whom there was given him a seed as the and as the sand of the seashore.

stars of the

faith,

heaven

From

the individual the Holy Spirit's work passes into the and thence into the nation. Thus Israel receives his being. It was Israel, i.e., not one of the nations, but a people newly created, added to the nations, received among their number, perpetually distinct from all other nations in origin and significance. And this people is also born of faith. To this end God casts it into death on Moriah; in Jacob's flight; in the distresses of Joseph, and in the family,

fears of Moses; alongside the fiery furnaces of Pithon

and Ramses; on the Nile. And from this death it is again and again faith that saves and delivers, and therefore the Holy Spirit who continues His glorious work in the generation and regeneration of this coming people. After this people is born it is again thrown into death first, in the wilderness then,

when the infants

of the

Hebrews

floated

:

during the time of the Judges;

finally, in

;

the Exile.

Yet

it

can not

die, for it carries in its bosom the hope of the promise. However maimed, plagued, and decimated, it multiplies again and again for the Lord's promise fails not, and in spite of shameful backslidings and apostasy, Israel manifests the glory of a people born, living, and dying by faith. Thus the work of the Holy Spirit passes through these three stages: Abel, Abraham, Moses; the individual, the family, the nation. In each of these three the work of the Holy Spirit is visible, inasmuch as everything is wrought by faith. Is faith not wrought by the Holy Spirit? Very well; by faith Abel obtained witness; by faith Abraham received the son of the promise; and by faith Israel passed through the Red Sea. ;

And what

is

the relation between life and the

ing these three stages.^

Is

it,

word of life

dur-

as according to current representa-

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