2. The Meaning of Sanctification - Enter His Rest

us to judge the size of a man’s gift by the use to which he has put it, but that is not a
reasonable conclusion to make. Two young men each inherit a million dollars. One
manages to preserve his fortune intact and live upon the income thereof without ever
making any impression of any kind on the world. Another seems to thrill every dollar
with the vitality of his own vigorous personality so much that he multiplies his fortune
many fold and becomes known to the world far and wide. Obviously, we cannot judge of
the size of the gift they received by the use which they made of it.
Two boys are born with great natural ability — practically equal, yet one turns his
attention to the humble work of his own community and the other develops his ability in
such a way as to achieve world fame. So it is with Christians who receive the priceless
gifts of God. It is unreasonable to demand the same astonishing world-shaking fame of all
sanctified believers. The majority of even that famous company of the twelve apostles
lived obscure and hidden lives and died unknown to men, except that their names alone
appeared in that immortal company. Yet we have scriptural evidence that these were men
of pure heart, soundest consecration, perfect in love, wholly acceptable in the kindly eyes
of the Son of Man. In heaven their crown will not be dimmed in anywise by the humility
and obscurity of their gentle and self-effacing lives.
Perhaps our Christianity needs more of a consecration to anonymity, more of willingness
to be the least in the kingdom of heaven. Purity and humility are the passions of the
saints.
8. THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
Careless readers of the Bible have attributed to the plan of salvation a simplicity which it
does not have. Just as we find depth and complexity when we attempt a close study of
nature, so we likewise find many deep truths when we seek to study the Bible and the
plan of salvation. One of these truths is that the Holy Spirit has more than one “office
work.”
This is illustrated by the case of a man who is a judge and a physician. As a physician he
would seek to save a criminal’s life and as a judge he might sentence him to death. There
is nothing contradictory in the two offices or professions combined in one man. That is
the explanation of the problem concerning Christ’s promising to send his Holy Spirit
when throughout the Old Testament there are numerous references to prove that he has
always been in the world. Christ sent him in the special office work of the sanctifier to
perfect the church on the Day of Pentecost and to dwell in it in sanctifying power forever.
The multiple work of the Holy Spirit in human life is set forth in scriptural symbols and
there is value in them.
AIR AS AN EMBLEM OF THE SPIRIT
When men began to talk about spiritual things they had to use physical things to illustrate
their meaning. We say we grasp a subject when we mean, not that we take hold of it with
the hand, but with the mind. In this way, the word air came to be used for spirit from the
most ancient time. In Genesis 1:2 the Hebrew says the “ruach of God brooding on the
waters.” Here ruach is literally the “breath of God,” and the text means that the Spirit of
God brooded over the chaos of the ancient world like a bird brooding over her eggs. And
this is the way that God’s Spirit has brooded over the souls of all men throughout all