This day is that day - Chambers, Oswald

address at autumnal gathering , League of Prayer, London , November 6, 1912
Chapter IX

And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, ver- ily, i say unto you, whatsoever ye shall ask the father in my name, he will give it you. John 16:23

Unperplexed realisation that day extends from pentecost to the day of our lords return. Our lord had just been telling his disciples that he is going to his father, and explaining to them what this going meant. It meant, as far as he was concerned, that he would be omnipresent, omnipotent and omniscient. Recall how the disciples had questioned our lord jesus christ up till then, but Jesus said, in that day ye shall ask me no question (rv). The day our lord was referring to was the day we know in the annals of the church as the day of pentecost, that is, the day of the spirit of god. What a wonderful day to live in!

Unquestioned revelation after the resurrection our lord breathed on these questioning, perplexed, confused, loyal disciples, and said, receive ye the holy ghost; if you read the accounts in st. John and st. Luke you will find it recorded that their eyes were opened and they knew him; their understandings were opened and they knew the scriptures; their inner consciences were opened and they knew that they had received from their risen lord the very spirit that ruled him.

Is it possible to sit down unperplexed while lives are being blasted in the most terrible way right in our very cities? Does it mean that we are to sit with folded hands and ask no questions? No, it means something much more sublime and practical than that. It means that in the profound regions of our lives we know that god is at work, the holy spirit has revealed him,

And he is taking us slowly into his counsels. Whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come ( john 16:13).

Undeflected reflection this does not mean that the soul who has received the holy spirit can demand that god tell him his secrets, it means that he is lifted to the privilege of entering into gods counsels with christ jesus. Great darkness, exasperating providences, but the inner secret of the lord is with those who have his spirit.

Read john 16 and you will find our lord did not mean that life would be free from external perplexities, because he says, they shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth god service (v. 2). Through it all comes the unquestioning rev- elation that as christ knew his fathers mind and heart, by the mighty baptism of the holy ghost jesus can lift any soul into the heavenly places with him so that the counsel and understanding of gods mind might be revealed.

If we have been going on with Jesus christ we have come to the day of unquestioning revelation, that is, we know what john meant when he said, but ye have an unction from the holy one, and ye know all things, and, the same anointing teacheth you of all things. The meaning of that is very practical and sanetest all you hear, all you read, by this inner anointing, by the indwelling spirit; he will test all the truth of god.

Undisturbed relation

verily, verily, i say unto you, whatsoever ye shall ask the father in my name . . .

That day is not only a day of unquestioning revelation, but a day of undisturbed relationship between god and ourselves. Just as jesus stood unsullied in the presence of his father, so by the mighty efficacy of the indwelling holy ghost we can be lifted up into the same relationship. That they may be one, even as we are one. Whatsoever ye shall ask the father in my name i. E. , in my nature he will give it you.

When we are born of the holy ghost, when we are related to god and bear the same family likeness to god that Jesus bore which, blessed be the name of god, we may do by the wonderful atonement of the lord jesus christ made living and efficacious in us by this mighty spirit of god in that day we, too, can have this undisturbed relation to god.

Undisguised recognition

. . . He will give it you.

Jesus said that god will recognise our prayers. What a challenge! Had jesus any right to say it? Have we faced it for one moment? Is it possible that the lord jesus christ means that by his resurrection power, by his ascension power, by the power of the sent- down holy ghost, he can lift us into such a relation- ship with god that we are at one with the perfect sovereign will of god by our free choice as jesus was? Does he mean what he says? Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name how could they ask anything in his name when he had not yet sent forth that marvellous holy spirit? Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full. Now we begin to understand why jesus said, ye shall ask me no question (rv ), because the holy spirit in that day glorified jesus and revealed him to them, and brought back to their remembrance his words and led them into their meaning.

Thank god, when clouds are around, the saint knows that they are but the dust of the fathers feet, and when the shadows are dark and terrible and the soul seems to fear externally as it enters the cloud, he finds no man any more, save jesus only with them- selves. In that wonderful position, placed there in that day, this day, we can pray to god in the nature of jesus christ, gifted to us by the holy ghost, and jesus christs sovereign character is tested by his own statement, verily, verily, i say unto you, whatsoever ye shall ask the father in my name, he will give it you.

O Lord, Thou art God, Holy and Almighty, and
Thou doest all things well. Show Thyself to us this
day. Lord, for myself I would make petition to see
Thee; draw me near to Thee that I may know Thee
and have rare communion with Thee.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Lord, for the days of the past holiday I praise and
thank Thee, for my lying fallow to Thy grace; for
the many prayers that have surrounded me like an
atmosphere of heaven.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
O Lord, save us from the murmuring spirit which
with the majority of us is merely skin deep, but it
is harmful, hurting the bloom of spiritual commu-
nion. Keep our life hid with Christ in God.