As we prepare for our first Holy Ghost Crusade of 2009, I have been
praying and thinking about an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. It will
be wonderful to see a hundred people receive the gift, just as they did
in the second chapter of Acts.
As we prepare for our first Holy Ghost Crusade of 2009, I have been praying and thinking about an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. It will be wonderful to see a hundred people receive the gift, just as they did in the second chapter of Acts.
Jesus promised the Holy Spirit In Luke 24:49. The KJV reads, “tarry ye… until ye are endued with power….” Most of us are unfamiliar with the meaning of endued. It means to be clothed. How can we be clothed with power from on high?
Jesus made this comparison of the Holy Ghost and clothing from some very important reasons. First, clothing provides a ‘covering’ for our shame. When Adam and Eve sinned in the garden they became aware of their physical nakedness. God in turn slew and animal and made clothes for them to cover their shame. Joel chapter two repeats the promise twice, “...that my people shall never be ashamed.” The chapter then goes on to promise the outpouring of God’s Spirit. It is God’s desire to cover our spiritual shame not with clothing made from an animal, but with the power of His Spirit.
Secondly, clothing provides a protection. Ephesians 1:13 says, “... after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise,” The word sealed here means to ‘mark’ for security or preservation. God wishes to mark us as belonging to Him, to secure us until the day of our redemption. Jesus goes on to promise in John 10:27-29 that no man is able to remove us out of His hand.
Thirdly, clothing gives us an identity. Dress distinguishes between a man and a woman. Dress can tell us one’s occupation, or maybe the lack thereof.
I was reading an article in the local paper, the News-Herald. It shared some comments from one of our newly elected judges. He said, “If your going to be a lawyer, dress like a lawyer.” How does a lawyer dress? The article goes on to say how he is always in a suit with polished shoes. Does a lawyer’s clothing add to his/her ability to argue the law? Of course not, but we as a society recognize the importance of dress.
How does the Holy Ghost distinguish us? Let’s go back to the meaning of endued. That same word is translated from the Greek into English as ‘put on’. Consider the following scriptures (KJV unless otherwise specified, emphasis mine):
Romans 13:12-14
The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light...But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.
Ephesians 4:24
24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
Ephesians 6:11
11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
Colossians 3:8-10
8 But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.
9 Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;
10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:
The distinction that the Holy Ghost makes in our lives is more than a confession and even more than a change in behavior, it is the evidence of a new creature able to stand against the attacks of satan, this world and our flesh.
There is another place this word endued is used. In Jesus’ parable recorded in Matthew chapter 22, we find the word again used for the wedding garment.
Matthew 22:9-13
9 Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage.
10 So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests.
11 And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment:
12 And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless.
13 Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Jesus in this parable showed the requirement to having the wedding garment to be His bride. Then in Luke 24:49, commands us to tarry (wait) until we are clothed with this power from on high. When the disciples obeyed the LORD’s command, they received the outpouring of the Holy Ghost as recorded in Acts chapter two.
Paul, in his second letter the church at Corinth, tells us that while we may be clothed in the natural, our spirit desires to be clothed with the Holy Ghost, so that we might find eternal life.
2 Corinthians 5:1-4
5:1 For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven:
3 If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked.
4 For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.
And so, as Paul admonished the church at Ephesus, “Be filled with the Spirit.” Allow God to cover your shame, bring Spiritual protection, identify you as His child and grant you eternal life.
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