![]() There the Spirit of God gives us a prophetic forecast of the coming kingdom, and reign of the Lord Jesus Christ, as Messiah upon earth. In the book of Revelation we have the Spirit of God presented to us in a character that answers to a remarkable statement in the Old Testament, to which I will refer. That joy is our own proper portion, but, if we know our own portion, we are free to look at that which God has told us about others, and there is great profit in studying that which is here told us. I know the study of prophecy is apt to feed the mind, rather than touch the soul's affections, and fill the heart with the joy that flows from a sense of the love of Christ. ![]() If you and I have not as yet paid much heed to this book, we had better seek light from God, and begin its study straight off. Little wonder that he would tell you, that this is a book which nobody can understand, although the Holy Ghost prefixes its contents with the words "Blessed is he that reads, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein, for the time is at hand." Not only that, but He says in the last chapter, "Blessed is he that keeps the sayings of the prophecy of this book." There is no other part of Scripture that God has prefaced, and concluded, with a specific blessing, in the same way as He has this book, and yet if there be one section of the Bible that is neglected, it is this. The devil is clever enough to keep souls from carefully studying any part of God's Word, which distinctly details, not only the judgment of the professing Church, the judgment of the world, the judgment of the whore - the false Church - the judgment of the living, and the judgment of the dead, but also Satan's own judgment. This, I have no doubt, is the reason why people do not read it much. The great thought of the book of the Revelation, on the contrary, is God winding up matters on earth, dealing with man in various aspects of responsibility on earth, and therefore you find that this book is emphatically the book of judgment. That is not to be wondered at, because in this book you find that the dealings of God are different altogether from those which are brought out in the early part of the New Testament where you have unfolded God's action in grace on earth. Are there then, in the same way as we have been looking at the One Spirit, in the early part of the New Testament, seven such Spirits? Ah, that cannot be! we are confronted with this thought, that in the book of the Revelation the Spirit of God is presented in a character totally different from that which has been before us in the other sections of the New Testament. ![]() 5:6), we read of "the seven Spirits of God." Now, God's Word is perfect. When we come to the book of Revelation we read no more of the one Spirit, but of "the seven Spirits of God." What has been before us has been the truth of the one Spirit, and of that one Spirit dwelling on earth now, since the day of Pentecost. That which we have been looking at for a good many evenings has been the testimony of the Holy Ghost concerning Himself, in various parts of Scripture, and in varied ways, in relation to Christianity. It must be clearly apparent to the most casual reader of the book of the Revelation, that the way in which the Spirit of God is presented in this book, is entirely different from that which has been before us in the previous parts of the New Testament.
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