“…For the spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus” (Revelation 19:10).
Roy A. Huebner
“God gives a promise, and then He presents the thing to man’s responsibility, and man subsequently fails with respect to it. Then, at some point, God implements His promise by sovereign grace and sovereign power. We see this fulfilled in the Lord Jesus.”
Ananias and Sapphira, the Holy Spirit, and the Church
Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5), despite the Holy Spirit coming down as a divine Person below, acted as if the Holy Spirit were not present at all. With the coming of the Holy Spirit, there was something new that God was doing. The sending of the Holy Spirit to indwell believers and form the body was a defining moment.
Mr. Darby wrote about this as being the sin, dispensationally, against the Holy Ghost. The coming of the Holy Spirit was so characteristic of the Church period, and so to act in this way, denying the Spirit’s very presence, went against that grand truth.
(Please Notice: Mr. Darby is applying dispensational principles to the Church period here; however, he never considered the Church properly a dispensation or administration (i.e., a stewardship for the earth) – a helpful chart has been included below to demonstrate this. For further audio teaching on dispensations, please click here.
The Church Today?
The characterizing feature within Christendom is that ignoring of the Holy Spirit as come from Christ, the exalted Head in heaven, to take care of His interests during His absence.
Some believe you can receive the Spirit’s indwelling multiple times; hence, we see how the very truths of the Spirit in the Church are not well understood.
The body was once-for-all formed on the day of Pentecost, and we subsequently are joined (1 Corinthians 12:13) to that body and sealed with that Spirit of promise (Ephesians 1:13).
“In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise.”
“With that Holy Spirit” = Sealing implies that we are joined to that body previously (and once-for-all) formed on the day of Pentecost.
What do you mean the sin “dispensationally”?
With dispensations, you find a characteristic sin that took place at the onset.
With Noah, for example, government was set up, and Noah could not subsequently govern his own person and was found in drunkenness by his son. There was a lack of self-governance.
Important Principle Characteristic of Dispensations:
God gives a promise, and then He presents the thing to man’s responsibility, and man subsequently fails with respect to it. Then, at some point, God implements His promise by sovereign grace and sovereign power. We see this fulfilled in the Lord Jesus (ex: the Lord as Priest and King, fulfilling those offices perfectly in the coming kingdom).