Quench Not the Spirit

“Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.” Hebrews 3:7-8. “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” Revelation 2:7.

As long as we have God’s Spirit burning in our hearts we can hear what He says—He who speaks from heaven—and he who hears shall live.

However, if the fire is quenched, the life of faith ebbs away; yet it is still possible to keep up a good external appearance. Therefore it is absolutely vital for the new life that the Spirit’s fire is kept burning.

In the old covenant God’s Spirit was present when the prescribed offerings were brought. They were brought in the morning and in the evening, and the fire had to burn continuously on the altar. Men were taken from the tribe of Levi as priests, and it was their responsibility to see to it that the offerings and the fire were maintained.

In the new covenant each member of the body of Christ is his own sacrificial priest, and God’s Spirit is preserved in each individual’s heart by the continual sacrifices which he brings. All the sacrifices are in his body, and he is consecrated as a sacrificial priest once he has given everything to God. His priestly ministry is that he sacrifices whatever the High Priest reveals to him. For that he needs fire. There­fore the fire of the Spirit must always be kept burning in our inner man so that the sacrifices can be consumed. We have received Christ’s Spirit of sacrifice, the same eternal Spirit in which Christ offered Him­self without spot to God. Hebrews 9:14.

It is not so difficult for a person to hear when the Spirit convicts him of sin; nevertheless, it is vital for us not to harden our hearts when He brings us to the point where we need to give our “good” I into death. On this point, everything depends on whether we possess the consuming fire of the Spirit in our inner man, or not.

Paul gave the church an exhortation to be filled with the Spirit; but only thirty years later (approximately), when the epistle to the angel of the church in Ephesus was written, there was so little of the Spirit left that he was told his lampstand would be removed if he did not repent. The spiritual life sinks quickly if what the Spirit has to say to the church is not being heard. Then the wolves make their way into the church from the outside, and from their own midst men will arise who do not speak sound words. God is a consuming fire against sin and impurity, and as long as the fire burns in the servants of the church, the high spiritual level is preserved, and the message that is spoken in the church is as the word of God. But when the Spirit’s fire begins to wane, the high requirements of purity and holiness are low­ered, and then it is far too troublesome and heavy to have a fervent spirit which always requires death to all flesh. The heart hardens to the Spirit’s voice, and one chooses the things that tickle one’s ears.

Jesus came to cast fire on the earth, and how He wished that it were already kindled. He Himself lived and did all His works in this fervent spirit. He spoke to many, and a number of them followed Him, but only a few preserved what they had received. It died out in most of them. When Jesus met the young man He went right to the point, and said: “Do you want to be perfect?” Where do you hear such words today? The things that are said and written, are they not almost the opposite of being perfect? These things are said in a spirit of slumber, and all those who are in that spirit receive it.

However, let us be among those who keep the Spirit’s fire burn­ing until the end, so that no requirement will be too high, and no bur­den too heavy. Let us stand firm in this, that we are a chosen genera­tion, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people.