Part 3, Chapter 4: General Consequences of the Holy Spirit's Work — Consolation, Peace, Joy, Hope
This chapter concerns the general consequences in the hearts of believers of the effects of the Holy Spirit before mentioned: consolation, peace, and joy.
Having proceeded this far in discovering the way of our communion with the Holy Spirit and having insisted on the most noble and known effects he produces, it remains to declare what general consequences of these effects are brought forth in the hearts of believers. These I shall do little more than name, it not being my design to handle their natures but only to show what respect they bear to the matter in hand.
Consolation is the first of these. Acts 9:31: the disciples walked in the fear of the Lord and in the consolation of the Holy Spirit. He is the Comforter, and from his work toward us and in us we have comfort and consolation. This is the first general consequence of his dispensation and work. Comfort or consolation in general is the setting and composing of the soul in rest and contentedness — in the midst of or from troubles — by the consideration or presence of some good in which it is interested, outweighing the evil, trouble, or perplexity it has to wrestle with. Where mention is made of comfort and consolation properly so called, there is relation to trouble or perplexity. 1 Corinthians 1:5-6: as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds by Christ. Suffering and consolation are opposed, the latter being a relief against the former.
Consolation arises from the presence or consideration of a greater good that outweighs the evil or perplexity with which we contend. In the effects or acts of the Holy Spirit before mentioned lie all the springs of our consolation. There is no comfort but from them. Suppose a man under the greatest calamity that can possibly befall a child of God, or a confluence of all those evils numbered by Paul in Romans 8:38. Let this man have the Holy Spirit performing the works mentioned toward him, and in spite of all his evil his consolations will abound. Suppose him to have a sense of the love of God all the while shed abroad in his heart, a clear witness within that he is a child of God, accepted with him, that he is sealed and marked of God for his own, that he is an heir of all the promises of God — it is impossible that man should not triumph in all his tribulations.
From this source of all our consolation come those descriptions of it in scripture from its properties and adjuncts. First, it is abiding — hence it is called everlasting consolation, 2 Thessalonians 2:16. Comfort that vanishes not, because it rises from everlasting things. There may be some perishing comfort given for a little season by perishing things, but abiding consolation is from things everlasting: everlasting love, eternal redemption, an everlasting inheritance.
Second, it is strong. Hebrews 6:18: that the heirs of the promise should receive strong consolation. As strong opposition sometimes lies against us, so our consolation is strong; it abounds and is unconquerable. It makes its way through all opposition, confirms and strengthens the heart under any evil, fortifies the soul and makes it able cheerfully to undergo whatever it is called to — because it is from him who is strong.
Third, it is precious. Hence the apostle makes it the great motive unto obedience in his exhortation to the Philippians, Philippians 2:1: if there be any consolation in Christ — if you set any esteem and valuation upon this precious mercy — by those comforts, let it be so with you.
This is the first general consequence in the hearts of believers of those great effects of the Holy Spirit before mentioned. It is so large and comprehensive, comprising so many of our concerns in our walking with God, that the Holy Spirit receives his very name as to the whole work he has to perform for us from hence — he is the Comforter. As we have no consolation but from the Holy Spirit, so all his effects toward us have this consequence, more or less, in us. Whatever we have in the kinds of things before mentioned that does not bring consolation with it — in the root at least if not in the ripe fruit — is not of the Holy Spirit. This gives us a valuation of his love, teaches us where to make application in our distress, whom to pray for, to pray to, and whom to wait upon in perplexities.
2. Peace arises from this also (Romans 15:13). The God of hope fill you with all peace in believing, that you may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost. The power of the Holy Ghost is not only extended to hope, but to our peace also in believing. So is it in the connection of those promises (John 14:26-27). I will give you the Comforter: and what then? What follows that grant? Peace, says he, I leave with you, my peace I give unto you. Nor does Christ otherwise leave his peace, or give his peace unto them, but by bestowing the Comforter on them. The peace of Christ consists in the soul's sense of its acceptance with God in friendship. So is Christ said to be our peace (Ephesians 2:14), by slaying the enmity between God and us, and in taking away the handwriting that was against us (Romans 5:1). Being justified by faith, we have peace with God. A comfortable persuasion of our acceptance with God in Christ is the bottom of this peace; it enwraps deliverance from eternal wrath, hatred, curse, condemnation; all sweetly affecting the soul and conscience.
And this is a branch from the same root with that foregoing. A consequent of the effects of the Holy Ghost before mentioned. Suppose a man chosen in the eternal love of the Father, redeemed by the blood of the Son, and justified freely by the grace of God, so that he has a right to all the promises of the gospel; yet this person can by no reasonings nor arguings of his own heart, by no considerations of the promises themselves, nor of the love of God, or grace of Christ in them, be brought to any establishment in peace, until it be produced in him, as a fruit and consequent of the work of the Holy Ghost in him, and towards him. Peace is the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22). The savor of the Spirit is life and peace (Romans 8:6). All we have is from him, and by him.
3. Joy also is of this number. The Spirit, as was showed, is called the oil of gladness (Hebrews 1:10); his anointing brings gladness with it (Isaiah 61:3), the oil of joy for mourning. The kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost (Romans 14:17). (1 Thessalonians 1:6) Received the gospel with joy in the Holy Ghost. With joy, as Peter tells believers, unspeakable and full of glory (1 Peter 1:8). To give joy to the hearts of believers is eminently the work of the Comforter, and this he does by the particulars before instanced in; that rejoicing in hope of the glory of God mentioned (Romans 5:2), which carries the soul through any tribulation even with glorying, has its rise in the Spirit's shedding abroad the love of God in our hearts (verse 5). Now there are two ways whereby the Spirit works this joy in the hearts of believers.
1. He does it immediately by himself, without the consideration of any other acts or works of his, or the interposition of any reasonings, or deductions and conclusions. As in sanctification, he is a well of water springing up in the soul, immediately exerting his efficacy and refreshment; so in consolation, he immediately works the soul and minds of men to a joyful rejoicing and spiritual frame, filling them with exultation and gladness. Not that this arises from our reflex consideration of the love of God, but rather gives occasion thereunto. When he so sheds abroad the love of God in our hearts, and so filling them with gladness by an immediate act and operation (as he caused John the Baptist to leap for joy in the womb, upon the approach of the mother of Jesus), then does the soul even from this raise itself to a consideration of the love of God, from which joy and rejoicing does also flow. Of this joy there is no account to be given, but that the Spirit works it when and how he will; he secretly infuses and distills it into the soul, prevailing against all fears and sorrows, filling it with gladness, exultations, and sometimes with unspeakable raptures of mind.
2. Mediately, by his other works towards us. He gives a sense of the love of God, with our adoption and acceptance with him; and on the consideration thereof, enables us to receive it. Let what has been spoken of his operations towards us be considered: what assurance he gives us of the love of God, what life, power, and security, what pledge of our eternal welfare, and it will be easily perceived that he lays a sufficient foundation of this joy and gladness. Not that we are able upon any rational consideration, deduction, or conclusion that we can make from the things mentioned, to affect our hearts with the joy and gladness intended: it is left no less the proper work of the Spirit to do it from this and by the intervenience of these considerations, than to do it immediately without them. This process of producing joy in the heart we have (Psalm 23:5-6). You anoint my head with oil. Hence is the conclusion, as in the way of exultation: surely goodness and mercy shall follow me. Of this effect of the Comforter, see Isaiah 35 throughout.
4. Hope also is an effect of those workings of the Holy Ghost in us, and towards us (Romans 15:13). These, I say, are the general consequents of the effects of the Holy Ghost upon the hearts of believers; which if we might consider them in their offspring with all the branches that shoot out from them, in exultation, assurance, boldness, confidence, expectation, glorying, and the like, it would appear how far our whole communion with God is influenced by them. But I only name the heads of things, and hasten to what remains; it is the general and particular way of our communion with the Holy Ghost that should next ensue, but that some other considerations necessarily do here interpose themselves.
This chapter concerns the general effects that the Holy Spirit's work produces in the hearts of believers: consolation, peace, and joy.
Having traced the way of our communion with the Holy Spirit and examined the most important effects He produces, it remains to describe the general consequences these effects bring about in the hearts of believers. I will do little more than name them here, since my aim is not to analyze their nature in detail but only to show how they relate to the subject at hand.
Consolation is the first of these. Acts 9:31 tells us the disciples walked in the fear of the Lord and in the consolation of the Holy Spirit. He is the Comforter, and from His work toward us and in us we receive comfort and consolation. This is the first general consequence of His work. Comfort or consolation in general is the settling and quieting of the soul in rest and contentment — in the midst of troubles or free from them — through the awareness or presence of some good in which the soul has a share, a good that outweighs the evil, trouble, or distress it has to face. Wherever comfort and consolation are properly spoken of, there is always a reference to trouble or distress. 2 Corinthians 1:5-6 says that as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ. Suffering and consolation are set in contrast, with consolation being the relief that answers suffering.
Consolation comes from the presence or awareness of a greater good that outweighs the evil or distress we are facing. All the sources of our consolation lie in the effects and acts of the Holy Spirit described earlier. There is no true comfort apart from them. Consider a person under the greatest calamity that could possibly come upon a child of God — or a combination of all the evils Paul lists in Romans 8:38. If the Holy Spirit is performing the works described toward that person, then in spite of all his suffering his consolations will overflow. Suppose he has a continuing sense of God's love poured out in his heart — a clear inner witness that he is a child of God, accepted by Him, sealed and marked by God as His own, and an heir of all God's promises. That person cannot fail to triumph in all his troubles.
From this source of all our consolation come the descriptions of it in Scripture based on its qualities. First, consolation is lasting — it is called everlasting consolation in 2 Thessalonians 2:16. It does not fade, because it rises from everlasting things. Temporary comfort may come for a short time from temporary things, but lasting consolation comes from things eternal: everlasting love, eternal redemption, an everlasting inheritance.
Second, consolation is strong. Hebrews 6:18 says that the heirs of the promise receive strong consolation. Just as strong opposition sometimes bears down on us, our consolation is equally strong — it overflows and cannot be conquered. It breaks through all opposition, steadies the heart under any trouble, and fortifies the soul so that it can cheerfully face whatever it is called to endure, because it comes from the One who is strong.
Third, consolation is precious. For this reason the apostle makes it his great motive for calling the Philippians to obedience in Philippians 2:1: if there is any consolation in Christ — if you place any value on this precious mercy — then by those comforts, let it be so among you.
This is the first general consequence the Holy Spirit's great effects produce in the hearts of believers. It is so wide-ranging, touching so many aspects of our walk with God, that the Holy Spirit takes His very name for the whole work He performs for us from this: He is the Comforter. We have no consolation apart from the Holy Spirit, and all His effects toward us produce this consequence in us, to some degree. Whatever comes to us in the ways described that does not carry consolation with it — in root at least, if not yet in ripe fruit — is not from the Holy Spirit. This shapes how we value His love, teaches us where to turn in distress, who to pray for, whom to pray to, and whom to wait on in times of confusion.
2. Peace also flows from this same source (Romans 15:13). 'May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.' The power of the Holy Spirit extends not only to hope but to our peace in believing. The same connection appears in the promises of John 14:26-27. Christ says He will give the Comforter — and what follows from that? He continues: 'Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you.' Christ gives His peace to His people in no other way than by giving them the Comforter. This peace consists in the soul's sense of its acceptance with God as a friend. Christ Himself is called our peace in Ephesians 2:14, because He removed the hostility between God and us and canceled the record of debt that stood against us (Romans 5:1). Being justified by faith, we have peace with God. A settled confidence of our acceptance with God in Christ is the foundation of this peace — it includes deliverance from eternal wrath, rejection, curse, and condemnation, all of it working sweetly on the soul and conscience.
This peace is a branch from the same root as consolation — a consequence of the Holy Spirit's effects described earlier. Consider a person chosen in the Father's eternal love, redeemed by the blood of the Son, and freely justified by God's grace, so that he has a right to all the promises of the gospel. Yet this person cannot be brought to any settled peace — not by his own reasoning, not by thinking about the promises, not by considering God's love or Christ's grace in them — until peace is produced in him as a fruit and consequence of the Holy Spirit's work in him and toward him. Peace is the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22). The mindset of the Spirit is life and peace (Romans 8:6). Everything we have comes from Him and through Him.
3. Joy also belongs to this group. The Spirit, as was shown, is called the oil of gladness (Hebrews 1:9), and His anointing brings gladness with it — 'the oil of joy for mourning' (Isaiah 61:3). The kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:17). The Thessalonians received the gospel 'with joy of the Holy Spirit' (1 Thessalonians 1:6). Peter calls this joy 'inexpressible and full of glory' (1 Peter 1:8). Giving joy to the hearts of believers is a defining work of the Comforter. He does it through the particular effects described earlier. The rejoicing in hope of the glory of God mentioned in Romans 5:2 — which carries the soul through any tribulation even to the point of glorying in it — has its source in the Spirit's pouring out the love of God in our hearts (verse 5). Now there are two ways the Spirit produces this joy in believers' hearts.
1. He works it directly and immediately — without the consideration of any other acts of His, and without the need for any reasoning or drawing of conclusions. Just as in sanctification He is like a spring of living water welling up in the soul, directly imparting His life and refreshment, so in consolation He works directly on the souls and minds of believers, filling them with joyful exultation and a glad, spiritual disposition. This joy does not arise from our own reflection on God's love; rather, it provides the occasion for such reflection. When He pours the love of God into our hearts and fills them with gladness through an immediate act of His power — just as He caused John the Baptist to leap with joy in the womb at the approach of Jesus' mother — the soul then rises from that joy to a consideration of the love of God from which further rejoicing also flows. There is no human explanation for this joy except that the Spirit works it when and as He wills. He secretly pours it into the soul, overcoming all fear and sorrow, filling it with gladness, exultation, and sometimes with unspeakable heights of spiritual delight.
2. He also works joy mediately — through His other works toward us. He gives a sense of God's love along with our adoption and acceptance with Him, and then, on the basis of that awareness, enables us to receive it. Consider what has been said about His workings toward us: the assurance He gives of God's love, the life, power, and security He provides, the pledge He gives of our eternal welfare. It is easy to see that He lays a more than sufficient foundation for this joy and gladness. Even so, we are not able by any reasoning, conclusion, or deduction of our own from these things to move our hearts to the joy intended. It is no less the Spirit's own work to produce joy through these considerations than to produce it directly without them. This process of producing joy in the heart is illustrated in Psalm 23:5-6. 'You anoint my head with oil.' From this the psalmist draws his triumphant conclusion: 'Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life.' For more on this effect of the Comforter, see Isaiah 35 throughout.
4. Hope is also an effect of the Holy Spirit's work in and toward us (Romans 15:13). These, then, are the general consequences of the Holy Spirit's effects in the hearts of believers. If we were to trace all their branches — exultation, assurance, boldness, confidence, expectation, glorying, and the like — it would become clear how deeply our whole communion with God is shaped by them. But I am only naming the main points and pressing on to what remains. The general and particular way of our communion with the Holy Spirit should come next, but some other considerations necessarily come in here first.
