Trusting in the Work of the Holy Spirit

So many people have resisted the Scriptures that say that Jesus is the only way to the Father.  They simply cannot believe Jesus when He says, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life....No one comes to the Father but by Me."  Basically, we refuse to eat from the Tree of Wisdom when the Tree of "Knowledge" is so accessible to us.  We know what we know, and it is so much easier and more certain to rely on the fruit of the tree that we can see, hear, taste, and touch.

"What about all those who have never heard of Jesus Christ?" they cry.  "Are they to be lost?"

This morning, as I was reading about Cornelius in the Acts of the Apostles, I suddenly saw the answer to that question.  Cornelius was the centurion of the Italian regiment of the Roman occupiers.  Scripture tells us that he and his family were "devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly."   Suddenly, he had a vision; an angel directed him to send for Peter in Joppa.

At the same time, Peter, who was praying also, had a vision instructing him accept everything that God has cleansed.  By the time Cornelius' servants had reached Joppa and found the house where Peter was staying, Peter was beginning to understand the vision, and he went with the men without any hesitation. 

In the meantime, Cornelius had called together his relative and close friends.  As Peter began to speak to them about Jesus of Nazareth, the Holy Spirit descended on the entire company, and they began speaking in tongues and praising God.  They were all baptized that day, and Peter was able to explain to the Jewish believers that God had accepted the Gentiles and had given to them the same Spirit that was poured out on Pentecost on the Jewish assembly.  There were six brothers who had accompanied Peter to Joppa, and they could testify to what had happened to Cornelius and his family and friends. 

Up to that time, the message about Jesus had been preached "only to Jews" in Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch.  However, some of the men from Greece began telling their experience also to Greeks, and the Holy Spirit shed His grace on all who heard and believed.  Finally, Barnabas found Saul in Tarsus and brought him to Antioch, where the two of them remained for a whole year, teaching "great numbers of people."

The conclusion of the early church was summed up in the words of Peter:  I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right (Acts 10:34).

Those who "fear God" will be sensitive to the movement of the Holy Spirit, and it is His role to bring people to the Truth.  Rather than arguing with the Scriptures from "reason," and from our limited "knowledge" of the world, how much greater would it be for us to acknowledge the work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of all who fear God and who do the right thing!

When I look around the world, just as when I see the Roman Empire through the words of Scripture, I see not just "believers" and "non-believers," but rather those who "fear God" and those who do not.  I see those who walk in the Light and those who continue to love and to embrace the darkness.  And I can easily believe that those who walk in the Light will eventually receive the Holy Spirit, who "blows where He will," and whose work is not limited to our human divisions and categories. 

The Holy Spirit will teach us all things and lead us into all Truth.  It is so much easier to trust in His work than to trust in the work of mankind.  Our vision is so limited, but His is infinite and all-inclusive.  God will never reject anyone who comes to Him, no matter how 'foreign' their ways seem to us.  We are told in Ephesians that at one time we were all "separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.  but now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.....Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household...and in him, you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit" (Eph. 2:11 ff).

If we are followers of Jesus, it is the work of the Holy Spirit in us, "bringing us near."  If we are not yet believers, but fear God, He will send to us the energy, the power, the grace that overcomes all obstacles, bestowing on us His own Spirit of Truth.  Now how hard is it to believe that?