LAWTON CHURCH OF GOD, LAWTON,
OKLAHOMA
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29
THE WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT God does not purpose that we should be left in
doubt and uncertainty relative to things pertaining to our eternal salvation.
Hence we read, when a soul has truly repented and been regenerated by the Holy
Ghost, and adopted into the family of God, that, “The Spirit itself beareth
witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.” (Romans 8:16). And just as certainly and distinctly as the
“Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of
God,” so surely He in like manner bears witness to the subsequent work of
sanctification. We read in To what intent is the witness of the Spirit if
it is not to give us positive assurance and knowledge of our relation to God.
Hence none should take things for granted and assume and presume that they are
in possession of grace to which the Spirit does not bear witness. This was the
teaching of Mr. Wesley: “None, therefore ought to believe that the work is
done until there is added the testimony of the Spirit witnessing his entire
sanctification as clearly as his justification.” (Plain Account p. 70.) (In
other words, he should not believe he is cleansed when he is not in fact.) However, we would note that faith precedes, or
rather is the condition of the witness of the Spirit. We cannot come into
possession of either justification or sanctification until we believe for it;
and we cannot exercise heart-faith until we come onto believing ground, where
every scriptural requirement has been complied with. So the divine order is that
we first meet the conditions. And having done our part, we now believe that
according to His promise God does now perform and accomplish His part; and that
when we thus come where the soul “believeth on the Son of God (for the
blessing sought) he hath the witness in himself.” That is, the instant faith
really lays hold on the promise, God sends a telegram from the skies by the Holy
Ghost that the bank of Heaven has honored the draft and “counted” out to us
the sum that faith had appropriated. The man or woman who has this certificate,
bearing the witness and signature of the Holy Ghost, has no occasion to
“hope” he has the blessing, nor will it matter much to him what any person
may think or say about it, even though he be the preacher, presiding elder or
bishop seeing he has heard from heaven. He does not require visions nor the
witness of men and angels, having heard from higher authority. What constitutes the witness of the Spirit?
This may be difficult to explain, seeing the Spirit has innumerable ways of
bearing witness. In brief, the witness of the spirit is the divine
assurance—the voice of God in the soul, that gives the conviction or knowledge
to our inner consciousness, that the blessing sought is now mine. Many have
supposed that it consisted in great ecstasies and rapturous joy; or a something
in which one would experience a sensation similar to that which one might
realize in taking hold of a live wire. (But that is anointing, and
sanctification is not about anointing, it is about removing the carnal man that
prevents the proper presence and activity of the Holy Spirit.) That there are
cases where such manifestations are experienced we do not question. But it is
nevertheless well to remember that the Holy Spirit can bear testimony to our
inner consciousness without exciting our emotions. It may be just an
unmistakable impression or conviction that will bring great quiet and
restfulness; a divine enabling to appropriate and consciously rest on the Word
of God. It was the same Holy Spirit who came upon Jesus
in the form of a dove, that came upon the disciples as “a rushing mighty
wind.” There is not much demonstration in a dove, —simply the gentle,
subdued cooing. (Could we say that the dove is the Holy Spirit bearing witness
to the complete nature of God manifest within the Son, while the wind and fire
indicate a work getting into progress?) Perhaps we are safe in saying that the
manifestations of the Spirit are rather the result of the witness of the Spirit.
We are not to seek any certain manifestation, but we are to believe God, and
then the Holy Ghost will bear witness, and lift us out of the region of doubt
and uncertainty into assurance, knowledge and victory. “It is the Spirit that
beareth witness because the Spirit is truth. (1
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